The thread is now open for the rewatch of Ep 3.
Let’s join Growing_Beautifully, Cleopatra, Welmaris, WEnchanteur, Janey, Fern, FGB4877, and Carolina in deconstructing this complicated drama! I’ll try to join you all if I can persuade my hubby to stay home this weekend and ready the garden for spring. (I’m excited because my packets of seeds came in the mail! Woohoo!)
Note the schedule.
Option A: 14:00 UTC
10:00 am EST
07:00 am PST
10:00 pm Singapore, Philippines
09:00 pm Indonesia
04:00 pm Greece??
04:00 pm Paris
10:00 am Caracas
Let’s enjoy the show!
Kalimera @Packmule3!
Thank you for the early thread! I think you are right about 04:00 pm!
I have to confess that I am currently on Episode 10… *sighs*
Thanks @pkml3!
Hi @Cleo. I don’t have time or energy to watch as much during the week, like when we were rewatching Goblin.
Enjoy!
Hey @GB Unnie!
*Hugs* Good thing is that W is on Netflix. I have downloaded the episodes on my device and I am watching them while I am on public transportation. So, time is passing by. I don’t have time either to watch much when I am home…
Take it easy!
Here we’ll get a 8 minutes montage with 25 sub-scenes, able to summarize something that could take 1h or 2h in any other drama.
Also an explanation scene, and not a boring one. It’s the scene that definitevely made W my favorite kdrama, or serie, just at this point. Because I knew we where not only in a high concept, but also a high logic, even when the concept look absurd. So it don’t go in arbitrary fantasy. In other hand, it’s maybe the explanation scene we didn’t need because we understood already the time acceleration trick. But for me, it was a confirmation that’s all this was taken seriously by the writer.
Too bad we don’t get something like that in episode 15 or 16 when it’s more usefull. Maybe not enough screen time, or just, slowing down when audience should had time to think and guess. I like this kind of explanation scenes, looking like what we get in a anime like Death Note, or jdrama Liar game. Less mystery, but it helps.
Finaly I could post something about episode 2, even if my connexion is still on temporary save. I don’t know what they do, damn. So long to solve that.
Ack! I feel like I’m falling behind even when I’ve watched ahead by several episodes. I meant to comment more on episodes 1 & 2, but my handwritten notes sit, still not transcribed onto the threads. This is a marathon, not a sprint, right?
@Welmaris, sorry dude… It’s like the drama…
It’s a marathon, but all the way at sprint speed. 🙂 🙂 🙂
@pm3, So… I can’t post anymore on episode 2 thread… maybe I posted a too long text. lol. It’s weird. It happens sometimes on this blog. I don’t know why it does that.
Hi @WE, that’s strange. I’ve posted long comments here too but never had any issue in posting more after that. See you later today/tonight!
2 hours 55 minutes to party time and counting . . .
Mmmh, looks like 14:00 UTC is 15:00 in Paris.
@WEnchanteur,
I found your three posts in my Spam box and approved the first one. It’s a good thing you’ve copied and pasted them. I sometimes lose what I’m writing when I write directly onto the blog, especially when I’ve multiple screens of wordpress open.
Sorry about that.
Pm3
@WE, you mean it should be 3:00pm in Paris? @pkml3… please check the time in Paris.
For me now it’s 1 hour and 50 minutes to party time.
It’s 1:11pm in Paris right now.
Sorry again, WEnchanteur. Like most Washingtonians, I think the whole world revolves around me. Le monde, c’est moi.
You didn’t change your clocks yet. You’re changing it on MARCH 27.
So it’s 3:00 for you.
Anneyong!
Annyeong @Cleo! I took an antihistamine and now I’m super sleepy. But I’m here!!
Hey @GB Unnie,
I got up from a nap but I am sleepy too. What is wrong?
A few years ago I developed an allergy to lots of skin products. Yesterday I recklessly went back to try and use one of the products that I used to use and which I found good then… but today the reaction has set in. Still allergic – red in the face and itchy LOL. So took half a tablet to settle it. Hope to be better tomorrow.
It’s time to start!!! Let’s go….
Yooooo it’s start!!
@GB I do you will be okay soon…
I don’t use brands that I know that I have developed an allergy into a product of theirs.
Did you go to the pharmacy to take an oilment for your face?
Should we start?
@GB Please be well. Antihistamines are used due to severe allergies. Are you OK?.
Hey @WE and @FGB!
@pm3, it’s ok, I’ve a rest, sleep 2h, and now have a crazy energy on the thread… everybody will suffer of my crazyness.. ahahahahhahaha!!!
I will post things related to the SJJ script later, instead of looking at it during the session. It’s not effective.
Hi @WE and @FGB!! Glad to see you both.
I’m fine, thanks. Just allergic and used to it. I’ve avoided the stuff for years but decided to see if I was still allergic. I received my answer LOL.
good morning everyone!!
@GB hope you feel better
@Welmaris I feel the same as you. I got ahead and have so many questions and havent commented. I have to go get them
BTW Hello @Wellmaris and @PackMule3, Bon Jour @WEnchanteur, Kalimera @Cleopatra!!!
Hi everybody by the way!!
Episode start with the explanation scene. And to make sure it’s not boring as it could be, it’s more in the “back to future” explanation scene. Full of comedy. With of course Soo-Bong, always at the top for comedy. Also, it’s important for further comedy to make him aware the W phenomenon is real.
Bu Bong hasn’t realized yet what is happening…LOL
I love how Soo Bong has stared at the screen so many times and at YJ so many times but took so long to see her dress. It was the $3,500 dress that convinced him.
And after that he becomes a squirming, screaming mess on the floor LOL.
Yeon Joo explain what we already understand. But doesnt matter. Look of small flashback cut making that nervous. And many stupid Soo-Bong lines making that funny, with smart dialogs. Also good actor performance in the comedy style.
@WE, I found this one of the most effective expositions ever. YJ is so animated, the flashbacks are good and both YJ and SB are so funny.
@FGB Are you okay friend?
Hey @Carolina!
A pay-off in the scene. Soo-Bong speak about Seo-Hee boobs. Like Suk-Bum at the hospital, previous episode. Then it wil be another scene during episode 8 about Soo-Bong and Seo Hee.
Now will start the crazy montage 8 minutes scene. ENJOY!!!
Hi @Carolina!
Back to Hangang Bridge and now YJ and SB start their background investigations into the manhwa.
I’m here, and I’ve started!
I think the female lead, Han Hyo Joo, is a far better actress than I gave her credit for while watching W a few years ago. She has me convinced she’s on the soft, ditzy side. As the FL in Happiness, she was so undeniably badass!
I’m also enjoying the job being done by the actor playing Soo Bong, Lee Si Eon. Even with half his face covered by those thick glasses, he’s very expressive. I never have any doubt about what he’s thinking and feeling. I’ve seen him in other dramas such as Reply 1997 and Kill Me, Heal Me, but he’s quite memorable in this role.
The best sad BGM of the drama for the distress of Sung-Moo. HOOO he drink, as just finished my coffee but I go for a small whysky drink now. hehehehe
Yeon Joo see the notes her father wrote when he wanted Kang Chul to commit suicide. We get to see that his feelings were doing the art…
I am asking the questions now. No need to responds because we are watching, but let me know your thoughts.
At the scene where YJ is discovering her dad’s notes. Is the reason for KC to be real that YJ was crying over his death? Or KC had his own determination?
Hi @Welmaris
The backstory of Sung Moo… he was transferring his own desire to die because he’d been abandoned unto poor Kang Chul who had not previously wanted to die. It was against KC’s ‘nature’ so to speak… so it didn’t work.
The manhwa actually reversed the completed drawing of himself and held on to the railing the whole night!
Hey @Welmaris !
Han Hyo Joo caught my attention while I was watching W! I think she is pretty good actress! In Happiness, she nailed it as Sae Bom.
@GB Unnie,
Those are sings of self determination. Kang Chul as the main character didn’t want to die!
@Welmaris, it’s the magic of W, everything come at its best. Script, actors, directing, background music. This drama got the benediction of the gods!!
Now how Sung-Moo become paranoid. But before very important, he want to help kang chul to survive, because of the relationship in his mind: he was quite suicidal himself, and heal because of kang chul resurection. It’s a revelation. It’s start good. It’s only after his insecurities will back and make him paranoid. His bad part of himself making fear kang chul and the surnatural phenomenon.
Good day!!! I’m late but I’ve watched this ep already so I will catch up to where you are and back read.
Soo Bong is clever to put the pieces together and realize that Yeon Joo is telling the truth about going into the manhwa. When he allows himself to accept that realization, he goes from screaming fear to jealousy in a few ticks, hurt that after spending so much time drawing W he’s not the one who gets to go into that world. He’s also funny in his curiosity about how Yeon Joo felt when she kissed Kang Chul. What do you want to bet he’s never been kissed by a girl?!
@Carolina, show has never given us clear answers as to how come KC became self-determining. Previous episode, @Welmaris expounded a possible reason why. *Spoiler* KC was created by another person so he didn’t contain the personality, mindset or attitudes of Sung Moo. It was against his ‘nature’ and desire to kill himself… so her rebelled. How he came to own that ability to rebel is the mystery.
I also like how comfortable Lee Jong Suk is with his role.
He is an introvert person and completely shy in reality, as Kang Chul is simply amazing. He is charming, funny and serious when it is needed!
Take a glass of whisky and… drawing change. lololol!
TODA!!!
How he put down Kang Chul frame (the eyes volume 4). A detail not in the script. Thank director Jung Dae Yoon.
Some “back to present” in the montage, also.
Hope you all are doing well.
Hi @Cleo!
Hola @FGB
Bon jour @We
Hello @Welmaris
Cant wait to hear your thoughts on today’s episode!! =)
@Carolina and @GB,
I am rewatching W and I am currently on Episode 13. There are answers to the second half but I won’t say more. 🙂
Chills!!! Instead of the character being asked ‘Where are you going?” KC’s face turns to look at SM with a smile as if to ask HIM the question!!! It’s a question that SM needed to answer for himself but he didn’t.
Kalimera @Janey!
I have also watched this Episode last Sunday…
Good day @Janey!!
Now come one of the so good comedy scene with prof Park, the other comic relief of the drama. unforgeatble guy. Then how Yeon Joo get trouble with all her life read by people in the all country. We can enjoy a lot of clownerie Yoo-Joo acting. But after, she will be as good for tragic scene or anything. A very complete actress with a amazing lot of different facial expressions.
Soo-Bong refer to the “rules” of the concept. Again, we know the writer is serious about the logic. So loved that when watching this episode. Feeling I’m in the good hands and can stop have doubts and just enjoy the show to the max.
As I was saying since last Saturday. The bus stops are connecting portals in entering W’s world. We get to see the significance here…
Unfortunately, suicide by jumping off river bridges in Seoul is common. South Korea is trying to reduce the number of people trying to kill themselves in this manner with the help of A.I.
https://www.insider.com/seoul-ai-tech-detect-people-bridges-before-suicide-attempts-2021-12
Again comedy… What say the shop woman is sooo funny, with seo-hee reactions. ppppoooooorrrr Soe-hee. The writer crush her so hard, ahahaha.
@Welmaris,
There is also a very dire documentary about this…
I have watched some scenes but didn’t finished it all. 🙁
Poor Cartoonist Father feeling depressed in 2009 due to his wife`s abandonment.
@Cleo, damn you point out something here! It’s true, a lot happen in bus stop. Just in episode 16 too.
So anyone can explain why this time after taking medication, she falls asleep but ends up in W where she had been before? I know @Cleo says the bus stop seems to be a portal as well, but it’s not the only place. It could be because SB actually is talking about it… being sucked into the manhwa again… ?
I’m having tech issues with the streaming site. Ugh… W is not in US Netflix so I have to resort to Dramacool and it seems to have corrupted something in my browser.
Yeon Joo return in W… with the “far in my mind” background music “key of life” so good one too.
@GB Unnie,
She spent two months in her last entrance to W so her internal clock became crazy. She was exhausted in other words.
She came back because Kang Chul summoned her this time. He was looking for her.
LOL all of So Hee’s reactions to hearing about what happened in the changing room.
@WE,
And not only. We get to see the bus stop becoming significant, but there are more…variations! *winks*
@GB, we will learn this later in the episode. The time acceleration make the person very tired. It’s like a deep tiring, not immediate.
Here Kang Chul say “is she really beautiful”. So I speak about that already. This guy know nothing about women. He can’t even say when a beautiful woman is beautiful. It’s because, like it’s said at the end of episode 2… oh sung-moo banned any romantic scene from the manhwa.
The “Key to my life” Is the key of everything here…
@Janey,
W is on Rakuten Viki as well. But I don’t know if it works on the States.
This is so funny, police is looking for Oh YJ who’s right there in KC’s arms LOLOL.
And now the encounter…with the killer!
I’m gonna be very shallow here ladies, but I loved the scenes where KC was carrying YJ. I thought it was one of the best carrying scenes lol
I’m unclear on how the YJ could see the comic. I misunderstood and thought that the suicide scene was not released.
I was wondering if YJ had been given a truth serum or something when she more or less woke but was still half asleep. She told KC so many things that I thought she’d keep secret. She gave him the clue to how she knew because it was like she had a birds’ eye view … “I saw it.”
Faceless killer come in… a fight scene where kang chul do a very aesthetic position on the ground. Also move are a bit too slow (the director made progress about that since King2heart, but it’s not his strongest quality). You can see Lee Jong suk is good at that because he practised teak won doo.
Here, we see oh song moo made the killer. Smash hardly the tablet. In BTS, it’s said they was surprised this damn tablet was so difficult to break.
We get to see that the killer is another variation.
Jakkanim Oh Sung-Moo made him a mirage and that will bring many disasters later on…
That quiet fight with the killer was quite interesting. He pushed the killer back from shooting YJ and didn’t want to make any noise so as to wake her up.
@Carolina… in BTS, poor Lee jong suk break his back to carry her, lolol. She’s thin, but still a bit too loud for that.
We go into some other good comedy. Here Yeon-Joo understand why she fainted. Then more comedy. The 3 first episode rely a lot on comedy. But even after, there will still be comedy more or less.
SM is crazy if he thinks breaking the nice laptop would end KC. It just means a waste of money!
The manhwa world and KC’s life continues in the background.
Small details everywhere… Soo-Bong voice over, pay off of Yeon-joo knowing the manwha and looking for the gun.
THen the choice… how to end the episode ? Gun or Bra ?
Well… both with another hilarious shot… exibitionist… soo hee come at the wrong moment… doyoon “they have a … serious conversation”.
Kang chul : what do you do the morning as soon as you leave your bed, like… this crazy woman do crazy things as soons as she wake up.
then, the “logic and context” question of Kang ceo. ahaha.
@WE actually bending down to pick up a grown woman is really not easy. I think in the many takes he had to do Lee Jon Suk did have a hard time.
Kang Chul smarter.. hey hey.. he removed the bullet but.. what waht..?? why he put the bullet back.. aargh
Strangly he stop to threaten her, because it will need the crazy dialog ending by “I just made an experiment” about the kiss!
Then back on tension, take the gun again because crazy Yeon joo don’t say the truth!!!
I laught with that “flashing” scene everytime.
Here we get to see that Kang Chul is different from what they think he is, when he wants to…
I love the bra and gun negotiation LOL.
Serious talk in the bathroom going on between KC and YJ. LOL.
It is said that for some writers their own characters seems to develop their own voices, in this case that scenario has been tuned up to the absurd.
On the other hand and watching how Chul and father’s lives seems to mirror each other (one thinks of jumping from a bridge while the other divorces, both of them finds success at the same time), I wonder if “Saturn devouring his son” is not a literary creature that can come out of the pages to actually kill his creator rather than the Chuang Tsu’s Butterfly: if his character seems to have his own world and his own life, who cannot guarantee that he is a literary creature too?, everything he loves, abhors, knows or protects reduced to nothing but absurd (Chaos)in the grand scheme of things.
I guess there is some fear like that in all of us.
@FGB That’s such an interesting thought. Back to, are we butterflies dreaming we are men.
@WE I have to see the BTS for ep 3. It is not easy to pick up a person and carry them like that.
But they made it look good lol
sorry if this is a duplicate, since my internet is acting up.
@FGB,
I wrote about Descartes in the previous thread but you haven’t seen that…
In Ep two she slapped then kissed… in this episode he pulls the gun, kisses and then shoots her anyway LOL.
Just in this scene alone, there is so many small different events happening, all of so good smart dialogs and ideas with high density. what make W so good for me, I almost never meet so much things in so short time usualy in series or drama.
Then come the climmaaaax… Kang Chul SHOOT!!! So surprising, the thing pushed over the max you can… it just Happens!! WHAAAAAAAAT ?!!!!!!
In the script it’s “in the heart” (lol, of course, if you want love)… And it’s the episode 3 script cliffhanger.
As production wanted 16 episode instead of 17, they had to take another ending, not so good, but still a good one.
The question: if she could eat W food and wear W clothes, why couldn’t se be killed by a W bullet?
@FGB, make each character its own voice. It’s a basic of screenwriting. But I can say, not so easy to do. I encounter many problems about that because I need to translate in english after. So I can’t rely on expression but more on some other bias. I m never 100% satisfied about what I do about that. room for improvement. I just get in the shoes of characters to the max, living in them, so it help me a lot.
@GB,
Yeon Joo is not from this world. So, she cannot be killed in that world.
@GB
That is what we know for now…*winks*
@GB, it’s a too much geek question, lol!! But there is answer. It’s all about something is important related to the plot. Eating is not a plot thing, it’s not important in a world where narrative rules predominate. But eating poison is. So if Yeon Joo eat deadly poison, she can, but won’t die.
I like how the reflection of the broken mirror gives us a deformed looking KC. Who is out of his mind… KC as So Hee says or the one who created him.
@Cleo sorry I must do my homework and read you properly ^_^U
Kang Chul has nerve, just excuse… this guy is such a cad when you look better.
Yeon Joo “I love you”… comedy, but will be usefull later. I don’t say what because spoiler.
Then ending episode scene. Also Kang Chul don’t take time to say more to Do Yoon, he know it’s useless.
@FGB,
“Cogito Ergo Sum” / “I think, therefore I am”. Descartes
“Saranghe” LMAO!
Lee Jong Suk is a the top of his acting in this. I watched the drama Hapinness recently. And obviously, the main actor couldn’t stand Han Yoo-Joo acting.
Then, have you a boyfriend?
No.
That’s good!
waaahahaa.
Voice over for the cliffhanger.
…. The heroine changed!!!
Kang Chul says he is not swayed, but after that elevator conversation he definitely is…
In the research documents for W for the publication year 2009, YJ sees a note in her father’s writing on the page about Hangang Bridge: “Yeon Joo left, now I’m alone…” I find it telling that he didn’t express grief that his wife had left. We do see him dejectedly sitting in his messy office, and hear his thoughts at that time: “I’m the only person left in this house. I no longer have any family.” To punctuate that point, we see a framed photo of their three-person family laying on the floor, glass shattered. He drinks heavily–whiskey–to dull his pain. “I don’t have any will. when I can’t even draw a single panel, how can I continue this story?” [We see him with his head laying on a table. From the open bottles next to him, I think it’s safe to assume he’s drunk. He’s wearing a different shirt than previously, showing that his drinking extended over time.]
I think one reason Writer Oh can look so frightening is that the actor playing him, Kim Eui Sung, has a way of glaring up through half-lidded eyes with his chin lowered. I’ve seen some fierce teachers who have that look mastered.
Feeling abandoned, depressed, drunk, Writer Oh decides to end the story of W by having Kang Chul commit suicide. He’s transferring his self-destructive thoughts to KC. The note he wrote at that time on his research document reads, “That’s right. It’s a pity, but we’ll end it here!” Instead of committing suicide himself, Writer Oh used Kang Chul as his proxy.
Writer Oh drew KC releasing his grip from the Hangang Bridge rail and falling into the water. “Farewell.” He fell asleep after drawing the panel showing the splash from KC’s fall into the water. When he awoke in the morning, Writer Oh was shocked to see on his screen a completed panel of KC hanging onto the railing of the Han River Bridge. “It was a strange occurrence. I clearly ended it last night with him in the water. Kang Chul is still alive. He was hanging on with one hand. All night.” This was the first time Writer Oh experienced Kang Chul’s ability to override his storyline. At this point Kang Chul is only strong enough for self preservation: he could grab the railing and hold on, but not pull himself up. Only this one panel differed from what Writer Oh had drawn. But it was enough to redirect Writer Oh’s thinking, even though he wasn’t yet sure what was happening. “Did I drunkenly imagine it? Did I imagine that I killed him without even drawing it? But…this somehow feels like a revelation. Telling me to try one more time. That’s why…I decided to save Kang Chul.”
I contend it wasn’t Writer Oh who saved Kang Chul, but Kang Chul who saved Writer Oh. Ever the pessimist, Writer Oh was ready to give up on his career; [SPOILER] created with optimism by Yeon Joo, designed to be her hero, Kang Chul endured. The spirit with which Yeon Joo first drew him set him on his path of come-from-behind victory.
@Cleo, yeah I am OK but overslept so barely made it on time 😉 .
@GB, thankfully your allergy has receded and you know what produced it!!!!.
@WE,
I disagree about Park Hyun Sik. He was pretty good as Yi Hyun in Happiness. They were both pretty good as the main couple!
She’s his fan, he’s her 1st and 2nd patient that she saved on her own.
And that cheeky wink because she’s not married.
@GB, yes the broken mirror. I need to look again in the script. But of what I remember it’s from the director, not the script. It traduce well a feeling of something broken in Kang Chul… can be many things. But an obvious one.. what he just did right now was pretty bad. Damn, he shoot the girl, just like that!!! It’s not its character. In the dialogs there is a point about that : “if I want, I can”.. We get already a point about his rising free will… only he use it in the wrong way, like he will continue to do later… it’s the life lessons until he will grow up in a quite unexpected way.
Also we could say: break the mirror, so break himself when he look into. Break the action-hero character with its own way to do, shot with a gun. Now, he can’t be just an action hero.
Episode 3 finished and we get to see that in Episode 4 many things will be revealed to our manga hero!
The think about being the key to KC’s life and the main female lead changing from SH to YJ… should that not mean that YJ can never leave the manhwa? The logic always escapes me.
@GB,
That means that she will be sucked in more frequently into W’s world…
Your question cannot be answered fully because things will change in Episode 7. But one thing is pretty clear.
Kang Chul is the one who summons Yeon Joo in.
@Cleo, I was a bit disapointed, but not to the point of disliking the actor or the drama, so it’s quite ok. He don’t have a lot of different reaction, but as a good presence. He was ok in the show, and I think the emotions and love feeling was well convoyed. Also, the scene in one of the last episode (when he’s contaminated) is also the scene when she say him she love him too. This scene was amazing, and it’s at this point, when he lost everything of himself he find… happiness.
The W storyline has Kang Chul deciding to purchase a broadcasting company as a tool for finding the culprit behind his family’s murder. “Private investigation is illegal and I can’t access the National Information System.” Really? Private investigation is illegal? Tell that to the bitter almost-ex wife in Thirty Nine! And if it is illegal, how’s a well-meaning zombie to support his raw-chicken diet in Zombie Detective?
Interesting possibilites @WE. I have to think about that. The things it could mean for KC’s character that he looks broken and weird in the mirror.
@WE,
I have seen PHS playing Min Min on Strong Woman Do Bong Soo. He was pretty good there as well and I really liked that he was evolved after his military service.
I got a totally different vibe, as the most of the BOD’ers who were watching Happiness at the time. I like him as an actor and I am waiting for his next project that comes out shortly.
Thanks @Cleo. It’s very helpful to get your opinion while watching the show again. No wonder I gave up last time. I watched alone and got fed up with not knowing how or why or the logic and the change in the logic.
@FGB,
We need to take naps. It is needed 🙂 I do hope you will have a nice day ahead!
@Welmaris, yes!! It’s that, you get it. Such a beautiful scene. A lot of deep psychological transferts.
@Welmaris,
I didn’t watch Episode 8 of 39 on Thursday, because I was so upset with that malicious woman. I even wrote it on the actual thread…
I have to go for now! It was a pleasure talking with you all!
Read you later!
Bye @Cleo! I’ll go soon too. Will give in to the antihistamine LOL. I’ve fought a good fight.
@Welmaris
Thanks for that perspective. I can see that.
I have to go but thank you all for your thoughts. Hope you are safe and well. Have a great weekend.
@GB Unnie,
I like the cosmos building into this one. If you have any questions just tell me and I will try to answer!
I like this Jakkanim because her works are provoking! But I read an interview she gave where she said that she doesn’t care of the endings.
I was disappointed…
I quote from Dramabeans JB/GF review: “It’s funny that he’s a fictional character who’s treating her more like an object—his key—while she’s the one treating a manhwa hero like he’s a real person. If there’s one thing that we’ve learned from Dad’s experience with Kang Chul, it’s that his will to live is so strong that it changed reality in a different dimension;… ”
… “I like that amidst all the craziness, Yeon-joo and Kang Chul shared a small moment of genuine connection when she worried for his safety and he saw that she was earnest about that, at least. I’m all for Yeon-joo spending some time being roomies with Kang Chul in his world, though it does introduce an element of danger when she can’t anticipate how to save him. But with Dad on the run and out of his mind (and no longer in control), she might be making the biggest difference by staying in the manhwa world by Kang Chul’s side and changing his character for the better. Especially if she’s indestructible here.”
I agree with the sentiment DB wrote.
@Cleo, you mean Writer-him said that she didn’t like her ending?
Or do you mean she didn’t write the ending?
@Welmaris, that was my view too. Not only did SM transfer his wish to die to KC, but KC’s resilience gave him a new lease of life and success to boot. And yet he went about deciding to kill KC because he frightened him.
*SPOILER*
As you said previously, SM didn’t ever think of an alternative way of connecting and relating to a character that had become more real than merely a drawing. SM stubbornly remained in ‘killer’ mode, out to devour before he was devoured. But I feel that KC would never have devoured him. It was SM’s own creation of the no-face killer that did in the end.
@GB,
She is not interested in the endings of her works.
I wonder what title the manhwa had before Kang Chul bought the broadcasting company and created his own channel featuring true crime programming. He named his channel W for Who and Why. Kang Chul’s core purpose is to find who killed his family, and why.
I can see why such a manhwa would become successful, since detective fiction and true crime genres are popular. There’s a never ending supply of plotlines, all underlaid with the tension of the unsolved mystery of the murder of Kang Chul’s family.
Writer Oh and the manhwa W receive great acclaim. One fan comments while waiting for Oh Sung Moo’s autograph, “It’s as if he’s possessed by a ghost.” Writer Oh, himself, thinks, “Things are going too well. It’s almost hard to believe.” A TV interviewer asks Writer Oh about W’s “surreal popularity.” If OSM is in truth a collaborator, not the true creator of the W storylines, all the praise must drive home the feeling he’s a fraud. Still, for a petty reason he clings to the power W’s success brings him: “I have clearly succeeded too. Yeon Joo’s mom is probably regretting dumping me and leaving me, right?”
As W rises in popularity, Kang Chul’s power to co-opt the storyline grows. It’s the audience bringing Tinkerbell back to life: ““If you believe, wherever you are, clap your hands, and she’ll hear you. Clap! Clap! Don’t let Tink die! Clap!” From changing panels and dialogue Writer Oh has created, to creating original scenes on which Writer Oh has done no work, Kang Chul’s influence becomes more prominent. OSM wonders if it is happening because of his consumption of alcohol, or because he’s insane. At this stage Kang Chul is able to assert his will when Writer Oh’s attention is diverted by whiskey or sleep: they’re not yet at the point of clashing directly.
It is repeatedly shown that Writer Oh’s computer is off or in sleep mode when Kang Chul’s contributions are made to the manhwa.
As usual, I’m progressing through the episode very slowly. I have to leave for now, but I’ll be back to read what all of you have written and continue my commentary. But in a few minutes I have an appointment with a fireplace company to have my missing chimney pipe replaced. Back in December when our local mountains were hit with an ice storm, a falling branch knocked the chimney pipe off our cabin. It has taken all this time for the ordered replacement to come in. Soon I’ll be able to use the fireplace in my cabin again!
Song Jae-Jung is known to cause some scandals in her interviews. What is quite a fun thing for me. But not easy to stand for her. She is sincere but fair, she says a lot in a very short time, which causes misunderstanding. I can understand that quite well. She has a head start in her mind, making shortcuts too quickly. It’s how work people with fast minds. They think wrongly than people can connect the dots.
When she says that the end does not matter. It’s because the material of the drama is the unfolding, everything during. I see this a lot in the comments, for example, the drama “The Penthouse”, many people didn’t like the ending. And what do they do? They consider that the whole drama is bad! That makes no sense at all!! but none! What made the drama fabulous is what happens in every episode, every moment. So the ending doesn’t matter. It’s what it mean!
And the final resolution can sometimes be one thing or another. It can be changed! I did it myself. I had a choice between a horribly sad ending, a sad ending, a less sad (bitter happy) ending, a happy ending. But in the end, I just chose the ending that provided the most emotion. The one that made me cry when I read it again, with a deep feeling, like the end of “The Sandglass”. So I didn’t care about the ending as such, as far as the event was concerned. Who lives, who dies, does it satisfy the audience about that kind of thing.
SJJ gets to the end of her story, and just she has to ask herself… am I doing the ending as I planned, or can a new idea make it more memorable? In Memories of the Alhambra a lot of people hated that open ending. And in W, people hated it too… even though it was a good ending about the emotion. I redid about 30 lines of dialogue from the last episode with an alternative ending. Sadder, and I actually thought that was pretty good too. She could have done a sad ending. She says she was upset that people didn’t like her previous ending in Nine Time travel. And considers like not disappointing the audience too much. But I don’t think that’s the right approach. And for that matter, so does she, since she decides not to subscribe to that in Memories of the Alhambra. But a bit more in W. She didn’t have to.
Having tested another ending, I realize that the ending of W is a bit too happy. But maybe it’s just the good one. I had other reason to change the ending, will speak about that episode 16. Maybe I should translate my modified subtitle in english. It was not easy to do that while keeping the actor lines. Just as they speak korean and we don’t understand korean, I could change the text and provide another meaning. Quite fun to do, as I was able to find sentence with the same lenght and that fits the intonation of the dialogs.
@Cleopatra, it’s interesting that Netflix carries W in your region. Here in the USA that show’s not on Netflix, but Viki carries it. Unfortunately, Viki doesn’t allow downloading of episodes.
@WEnchanteur, from the shapes and what I can see of the labels on OSM’s coffee table, it looks like he prefers indulging with Chivas Regal and Glenfiddich. What do you think?
@FGB4877, since you bring up Saturn Devouring His Son, it makes me think of how Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down) inspired Ridley Scott to direct the movie Gladiator. I imagine Francisco Goya’s macabre painting influenced Kim Eui Sung’s portrayal of Oh Sung Moo: the madness, the intensity, the ferocity. In the mythology, Titan Cronus/Saturn swallows his newborn children whole, to eventually regurgitate them unharmed. Goya’s painting shows a bloody, headless corpse of an adult being consumed, the fate of the victim not in question. And there’s nothing ambiguous about Oh Sung Moo’s desire to conquer and destroy Kang Chul.
@GB, discerning viewers should ponder the logic of why the bullet didn’t harm YJ. I suspect YJ will wrestle with the question, herself. Apparently KC already has, came to a conclusion, and his instincts were correct. I like @WEnchateur’s theory that since YJ is visiting the world of W, not from it, and her death in this scene doesn’t serve the main character’s story, she’s unaffected by the bullet. Even in real life, what we think of as solid matter is mostly space and tiny particles held together with powerful electrical forces. What we perceive as touch is electrons in an object resisting the electrons in our skin. (https://theconversation.com/if-atoms-are-mostly-empty-space-why-do-objects-look-and-feel-solid-71742) Think about that long enough and the mind boggles; it becomes a miracle that solids don’t pass through each other.
As I write this, the fireplace company men are tromping around on my roof. It’ll be so nice to have this task complete. It’s the last repair of storm damage. Before this we’ve had branches removed from our roof and the overhanging tree trimmed. (I’d had that big old oak inspected in November and was told it was in good health.) We had broken pine tree tops cleared from our back deck, along with the outdoor furniture they smashed. We had our back deck rebuilt, enlarging it and bringing it up to code after the railings were shattered. We had the broken and punctured parts of our roof repaired and all ridge shingles replaced. It’s been a long and expensive three months.
Knock on the door. Job done. Hooray!
Scene #43 from Episode 3 was deleted in the drama.
I give previous scene for context, Yeon-Joo faint at the bus stop then go into W, in the store. Kang Chul takes her in his arms and want to brings her in his home.
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#42. In front of the luxury store (daytime)
Kang Chul came out holding Yeon Joo and said to the parking attendant.
KANG CHUL – Open the door!
PARKINGEMPLOYEE – yes yes (jump and open door)
Yeon Joo opens her eyes while Kang Chul lays down on the seat. When I see Kang Chul in front of me
YEON JOO – (whispering) What.. Why did you come here again?
KANG CHUL – I wonder why you came back.
YEON JOO – I don’t know either… (I lose my mind again)
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#43. In the private elevator (daytime)
Kang Chul, holding Yeon Joo. Yeon Joo continues to be distracted.
The hotel staff presses a button and stands, glances at Yeon Joo, and then makes eye contact with Kang Chul.
KANG CHUL – (Smiling for fear of seeing it strangely) Because I drank a lot during the day.
EMPLOYEE – (Laughs) You are beautiful.
KANG CHUL – (?) Beautiful?
EMPLOYEE – Yes. You are beautiful.
KANG CHUL – (?? Let’s see if you don’t understand)
EMPLOYEE – (??)
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Because bad translation the “you are beautiful” is probably “she is beautiful”, EMPLOYEE speak about Yeon-Joo. It’s a additionnal scene to make understand Kang Chul don’t know what is a beautiful woman. It’s facultative because there is also others scenes when we see Kang Chul not knowing that.
Other nice point of this scene is of course a eyes contact. But here too, they have a lot of time for that elsewhere.
So, we have here a typical transition scene, the whole scene is facultative. Song Jae-Jung could have deleted that herself from the script. But as the episode need to meet the screen time duration, it’s still best to use that than a more useless scene. It help for the understanding of the situation, it give something more, so it’s ok. But can’t stay when they need to make 17 episodes go to 16.
It’s also used for Kang Chul to give an excuse “she drunk too much”. But in a way, it’s not exactly how is Kang Chul. Often he don’t give explanation, don’t answer to people asking him something. And also, when he want to go somewhere, he don’t ask “please”, he just go, no matter who he’s in the way. This guy gives order, and don’t follows orders or give any excuse, except of course to Yeon-Joo, and not that much.
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#44. Penthouse entrance (daytime)
The door opens and Kang Chul comes out holding Yeon Joo.
Guards 1 and 2 stand in front of the door and say hello??
BODYGUARD1 – (?) Uh, who…
KANG CHUL – Open the door.
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We see in scene #44… Bodyguards have always questions for him “who is this woman”, or even Do-Yoon “where do you go”. Kang Chul never answer. He makes his way, He’s THE boss.
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#45. Penthouse living room (daytime)
The door opens and Kang Chul comes in holding Yeon Joo.
Gorgeous living room scenery spreads out.
The roommaid walks out of the kitchen holding a tray of coffee cups and says hello.
MAID – (sniffing Yeon Joo with someone) You’re here.
KANG CHUL – (To the bedroom) How about Dr. Yoon?
MAID – You haven’t come yet.
DETECTIVE PARK – (E) Representative Kang.
Kang Chul, turn around and Detective Park comes out of the conference room with Police 1 in uniform.
Do Yoon follows from behind.
DETECTIVE PARK – I’m here.
KANG CHUL – (Surprised)
DO YOON – Detective Park is here. (Recognizing Yeon Joo in her arms right away??! She immediately beckons to Kang Chul what happened)
KANG CHUL – uh… ah… hello. (hurriedly hugs Yeon Joo again and turns Yeon Joo’s face as far as possible) What’s going on here…?
DETECTIVE PARK – Oh Yeon Joo Because of that woman. an eyewitness
KANG CHUL – Ah, yes… (management of expression) Are you still confused?
DETECTIVE PARK – What a strange woman. How did you avoid CCTV like that?
KANG CHUL – You don’t have to work too hard. That woman is not a suspect. If you can’t find it, you can’t.
DETECTIVE PARK – Find it. What do you mean? (Do) But…? (Gazes at Yeon Joo)
KANG CHUL – Yes? (Laughs) Oh, (smiles as if you don’t know me better than you are)
DETECTIVE PARK – Yes? (Laughs) Ah~ (Smiles like friendly) Ahahaha~
KANG CHUL – (Hugging it in) I’ll lay it down for a bit and come out.
DETECTIVE PARK – No no, don’t come out. Have a good time~ I’ll go.
(To Do Yoon as Kang Chul enters) Representative Kang, haven’t you been discharged from the hospital today?
DO YOON – Yes…
DETECTIVE PARK – Hey, you’re still young. As soon as I am discharged from the hospital, starting with women
DO YOON – (Cough)
**********************************
In Scene #45, When Detective Park looks at Yeon-Joo, Kang Chul makes understand him, just in a visual way what it could be “you know, a woman too drunk, you understand me, no need to say”.
In the drama, Kang Chul also play it like that, but a line was added (maybe it wasn’t clear after the shoot to make feel that to the audience, and it needed something more to make understand). So Kang Chul say…
“Something happened.”
What answer really nothing!! I like that. It’s a line used in some others dramas too. It’s just another way to make understand that Kang Chul don’t have to give explanations to anyone. He’s just polite and answer the most evasive thing you could find.
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#46. Penthouse Bedroom (Day)
Kang Chul puts Yeon Joo down on the bed when Do Yoon comes in.
DO YOON – What is it? (Surprised) Oh Yeon Joo, isn’t it? What happened?
KANG CHUL – (suddenly raises his hand)
DO YOON – (? High-fives in the freezing cold)
KANG CHUL – You’re finally in my arms.
DO YOON – What?
KANG CHUL – The key to my life. (Happy smile. Suddenly looking at Yeon Joo’s forehead) But is this girl really pretty? Is this face pretty?
DO YOON – What?
KANG CHUL – Why does everyone say she’s a beauty? (Looking closely at Yeon Joo’s face again)
DO YOON – (Face)
………………………………
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We see at the beginning of scene #46, Do Yoon ask questions. Kang Chul don’t care, he just say what he wan’t to say instead. It’s also a good way to make a dialog. As dialogs with questions-answers are often too boring and don’t have a kind of conflict or surprise. Later we also have the reminder about Kang Chul “why everyone say she’s a beauty?”.
Now the end of episode 3 in the script. Only the end of the scene.
So you get an idea about how powerfull was this cliffhanger.
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#69. Penthouse Bedroom (Morning)
………………………………
KANG CHUL – It’s such an important secret that he doesn’t even say it in front of a gun..?
YEON JOO – (Voice trembles) I can’t shoot… There’s no way.
KANG CHUL – Eight. Why are you sure you don’t shoot?
YEON JOO – Because the CEO is not like that.
KANG CHUL – Nine. I thought you knew everything about me, but there are some things I’m wrong.
I am the one who could.
YEON JOO – (Reality Denial) It can’t be.
KANG CHUL – Are you really not answering?
YEON JOO – (I am trembling but hopefully) …..
KANG CHUL – heat. (Pull the trigger right away)
YEON JOO – (…!!)
Slow firing bullets from the muzzle.
Kang Chul really shoots… and flies towards Yeon Joo with bullets, slow.
Yeon Joo, an incredible expression.
The moment the bullet flies straight to Yeon Joo’s heart and gets stuck in her heart,
End of the 3rd.
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We gets a detail that don’t show that much in the drama.
The bullet goes to the heart!!! Alas, I don’t have this feeling when I watch the drama. The bullet hole looks like more close to the shoulder. And it’s quite a very good symbol for a love story. Kang Chul shoot her in the heart… how comes the love from a hero whose main characteristic is to be a super sniper with pistol.
Note also, SJJ don’t give many indication in the script (things like fade in, fade out or stuff like that), she don’t give camera moves (as it should be because the writer has another way to make feel that). But on an important scene like that, she still indicates it’s a “slow motion” bullet.
She use the slow motion to make something impossible, but it’s a drama, we need emotion. And so, it’s like Yeon-Joo have the times to understand Kang Chul fires and she’s shot, and react emotionaly to that. Not realistic of course, she can’t have time, a bullet is too fast. But the slow motion can be used to get that illusion. We want that for the cliffhanger being scary and crazy unexpected, and so incredible that’s happens in the heroine mind.
One of the next scene now, set in episode 4 in the script, and episode 3 in the drama.
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#3. Penthouse bathroom (morning)
KANG CHUL – …… (As expected, not surprised)
YEON JOO – …… (My whole body is trembling from shock.. Touching my heart with trembling hands.. When I open my hands, there is nothing.. I bow my head and look down.. There are no wounds. check that) ….!!
KANG CHUL – ……
YEON JOO – (watching Kang Chul again)
KANG CHUL – Surprised..?
YEON JOO – (Face)
KANG CHUL – (He lowers his gun) He doesn’t seem to know what he’s capable of.
YEON JOO – (Passed out as it is)
KANG CHUL – (!! Runs and catches Yeon Joo who is falling down)
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What curious in this, is the difference between korean screenplay and western one.
You will never see something like that in a western screenplay.
There is no descriptions or actions lines. All the action is put into the characters dialogs or more exactly the didascalia (parenthesis). And a parenthesis can be as long as you want in korea, when they have to be ridiculously shorts in western screenplay. (no choice it’s about the formating of the page).
Note also many elements you never see like lines with just “…….”.
It’s only a way to use the dialogs to create dynamism, almost shots on the faces.
Note also the line with only (Face). What does it mean. SJJ use also (Expression) elsewhere, or just the “….”, or things like “…. !!!”. So, it just say to the actors (and director), here we see the face of the character and the actor are free to make the face they want. The situation is enough clear for them to choose what they think is the best. She’s confident in the actors and don’t overload them at each step, but still guide them more when she think it’s important.
Else, she use classic parenthesis like (As expected, not surprised). We can still note here that “not surprised” could be enough if you just look at what we see on the screen. But SJJ want to add “as expected”, so to say more deeply the intention, what think Kang Chul. And so, the actor get an important information on top of that. I rarely see that in western screenplay.
Now, the end of the scene set as cliffhanger in the drama, from script episode 4.
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#10. In the private elevator (morning)
……………………………….
Kang Chul, come forward, close the door, stand close to Yeon Joo
KANG CHUL – You don’t answer a single question, so why worry about me dying?
YEON JOO – I am the person who wants the CEO’s life to have a happy ending.
KANG CHUL – (…!)
YEON JOO – I am a fan of the CEO. this is real
KANG CHUL – (expression)
KANG CHUL – Does that mean… that answering makes me unhappy?
YEON JOO – Maybe.
KANG CHUL – (expression)
YEON JOO – That’s why I can’t answer.
KANG CHUL – …….
YEON JOO – And the CEO is the first patient I saved with my own strength.
KANG CHUL – Is that right? It’s an honor.
YEON JOO – This is also the second patient.
KANG CHUL – Even more honorable.
YEON JOO – So… be careful
KANG CHUL – …… (A feeling of sincerity, strangely touching)
YEON JOO – ……
KANG CHUL – (Smiles) That’s right. (staring)
YEON JOO – (Something uncomfortable, awkward at the staring gaze)
KANG CHUL – I hope you will answer this question. How old are you?
YEON JOO – ….. Thirty.
KANG CHUL – We were the same age. (and) did you get married?
YEON JOO – …… No.
KANG CHUL – That’s great.
YEON JOO – (Looking at that word, ?)
KANG CHUL – (unknown smile, stepping back)
YEON JOO – (on expression)
YEON JOO – (E) I only found out later why I keep being summoned here
It was because this man said I was the key to life.
The elevator door closes and Kang Chul smiles, no longer visible.
Yeon Joo, standing there with a strange feeling as if it were rumbling.
YEON JOO – (E) At that time, the female protagonist of this cartoon had already changed.
From Yoon Soo Hee to Oh Yeon Joo.
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Even with this bad translation, we get very much the writing quality.
In the end, mostly… (A feeling of sincerity, strangely touching). I don’t know how it is in korean, and how the auto-translation turns it, but we get the meaning. There is very subjective choices of word, like “strangely”.. It’s blurry, but with the whole sentence, we feel many of that. Then, the work of the actor is to make that real. And he gets more tools for that than a short (slightly moved). He has what is under the character skin.
It’s interesting to see what in the script, and see how it is on the screen. I always feel, in any scene, that it’s a very close translation. That the actors was able to read between the lines, gets exactly the feeling the writer wanted. And of course, they are able to make it live, with even more details and new attitudes that fit the situation.