Here we are, the penultimate weekend of the drama.
I’m excited to see how our MiJeong and Mr. Gu have changed after two years. Their weird relationship can have a reset when they meet again. We shall see whether MiJeong has achieved the liberation she’s been looking for, and Mr. Gu is satisfied living as the henchman of Chairman Shin.
Gu: I want to live a clear-cut life.
I think the better idiom here is a “clean break.” He wants to make a “clean break,” a complete and irrevocable separation when he leaves for Seoul. He’s gone for good so there’s no point in maintaining contact with MiJeong once a month, or once in two months as she was begging.
Gu: I’m sure you roughly know what kind of life I led until now. This world is this world. And that world is that world.
He’s saying that the two worlds cannot coexist.
MJ: I told you I don’t care what kind of life you’ve led.
Gu: You don’t care what kind of life I led? What about the kind of life I’ll live? I’m just fine with my life.
Here lies the disconnect between the two. Whenever MJ says that she doesn’t care about his past, she has an implicit expectation that he’ll change and walk away from his previous life. But Mr. Gu rejects that idea. He’s saying that he hasn’t given up on his past because he’ll pick up where he’d left off.
Of course, we viewers think that his words were an act of bravado. He had no choice but to return to his previous lifestyle. At Baek’s wake, he was playing the part of a ruthless guy when he said, ” Me…I’m the kind of person who’s happy when someone dies.” He couldn’t even stand seeing the wild dogs under the scorching sun so he bought them a beach umbrella for shade.
I don’t mind the time leap. In fact, this is the time leap that I was waiting for in that other drama, “Twenty-Five, Twenty-One.”
Let’s enjoy the show.
Thank you very much, @packmule3. It will be an interesting couple of episodes. I think, like you, this couple (and their growth) is the most intriguing.
The previews of him bellowing ‘Yeom Mi-jeong’ reminded me of Stanley in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and why, if I ever get another female dog, I’ll name her Stella.
Hi @packmule3, I think Mr. Gu has another very important reason for cutting ties with MJ and that’s to keep her safe. He knows that inquiries have been made about her identity. In his life he knows that his associates will stop at nothing to control their rivals and enemies and that included murder. I am hoping for a redemption story for Mr G
Ah what a twist. The episode really was for Papa Yeom and Mom whose name I don’t even know. That’s the kind of life she’s lived. Worrying for her children, taking care of her husband. And many live the same way but mom never showed a sign of happiness. That’s just immensely sad.
@wapz, it was sad through and through for everyone. I felt such a disconnect at the beginning of the episode, as though I was watching a completely different drama with different characters.
At the end, the lady who comes out of the family house called Mr Yeom ‘Yeobo’, so they are living as husband and wife. I wonder if that is why the children left? The mother was the glue for the family?
Gosh, Gu’s face when he was served the sweet potato stems in the club, that he remembered from the Yeom dinner table.
@wapz, I think it wasn’t only about the Yeom parents, but something about parenting and families in general. The guy who brings his baby to the club, vs. the baby’s mother. There were various reactions to the baby – one employee is happy to carry the baby around and seems comfortable with him; Gu and the baby stare at each other, both odd to each other- Gu is about to raise a toast to the baby – the baby looks at its bottle; another employee later remarks that a baby in the club must have felt like a bird flew in. True enough – the stroller seemed very foreign. Was it alluding to Gu’s words about MJ moving to Seoul and becoming ‘ordinary’ with a stroller for her child and a husband in a club?
More parenting and family things include:
GJ who tries awkwardly to connect with Tae Hoon’s daughter Yurim;
GJ’s mother who stops by a cafe to check out Tae Hoon for GJ;
the wealthy city-dwelling farmers who have such a jolly time picking sweet potatoes as a family compared to the Yeom’s;
Chang-hee, who has joined Hyeon-a in caring for her ex-boyfriend like a family member;
Sam Sik’s teary wish to go home (to his family) in Naju;
MJ’s mother weeping in the market after learning about MJ’s carefully hidden heartbreak;
the bare wall void of of family photos in Mr Yeom’s house in the present.
Gu is drinking desperately. He is shaking in the first scene when he is waiting in the woods to meet Chairman Shin who is hunting. (I thought he was the prey.) He looks more ill than Hyeona’s ex-boyfriend who is in the hospital with cancer. He is living on the edge of life.
Gu won’t call Sam Sik by whatever Sam Sik’s new name is. He calls him so many different things that Sam Sik even comes when he calls him Yeom Mi-jeong. I had a flashback to about 13 years to the Ting Ting’s song, “That’s Not My Name.” Is this related to how Mi-jeong never called him anything except Gu?
Yes @Fern, this episode was dedicated to parenting. For the last 5 to 6 episodes, every episode has a theme. I don’t think it existed from the very beginning or maybe I wasn’t noticing and that’s always been the case.
I surely think Mom was the glue. Ther reason why they never left Sanpo. But I’m also surprised that all of them left. Chang Hee clearly does not have a good relationship with Dad, Ki Jung wanted to always settle in Seoul but Mi Jung is closest to Dad even in silence. I feel she is the one who must’ve been told by dad to leave, once the others left even if she resisted. I also think he probably got married later when he was left alone.
For Gu, I’m guessing Sam shik’s new name is Won Bin? That is the atypical name for anyone who considers themselves pretty. So I’m thinking that’s just a joke that he never calls him that. But it could also be because it was one of Mi Jung’s guess. When she was once guessing Gu’s name, she said it has to be Ja or Bin. I didn’t understand the logic behind it, how could she deduce only these names but I guess it has sth to do with Gu not calling Sam Shik.
Also just want to add the timeline was very tastefully done here. They kept alluding that its the same year just a few months apart but it’s actually a much bigger time gap.
Also what’s up with Mi jeong’s boss. If I’m not wrong, shebread the messages from Yeom Mi Jeong like i miss you etc on her boss’s screen. That wasn’t Mi Jeong’s own desktop and those messages were sent by Mi Jeong? Is that what that scene meant? Is boss trying to frame MJ to have her fired but idk if cheating would count as sth one would be fired for or is someone else to frame her. Maybe I’m thinking too much about it. But that scene was weird. Her monologue made us think it was about Gu but she clearly went from her friend’s seat who sits on her right to the other side where the boss sits.
@wapz, I thought that the messages on the boss’s computer were in her imagination messages from Gu to her. Just as she was imagining that he was going to come to her; as though she was back in her early episode mind frame where she has a fantasy lover.
I am going to have to rewatch to get the time changes down. I kept looking at Gu’s shirt collar to have a clue as to whether it is the same day or not.
Thinking more about the messages on the boss’s computer, I think he could also be using her name to protect his mistress at MJ’s expense. That’s more likely. If it were MJ’s imagination, she would be seriously delusional.
@wapz, @fern,
🙂 That’s the problem when the Director/Writer uses interior monologues too often to convey the inner thoughts of the characters. We don’t distinguish anymore whether the words are oral communications or figments of imagination, whether the words were declared openly or still repressed.
I find the overuse of this interior monologue style off-putting. Like James Joyce’s stream of consciousness. 😒
Anyway…
My interpretation of the messages on the boss’ computer: they are real.
They’re being sent by somebody else… probably someone in MJ’s girl group.
It can’t be her seat mate.
And I don’t think it’s someone working in the same office…because she should have seen that MJ was standing in front of the boss’ computer and could see the texts.
Her boss and his lover are probably using her name so if HR Dept discovers the affair, MJ suffers the consequences (termination? demotion? shame?) while the real adulteress gets to keep her job and reputation.
I know, right? Adultery takes two. The boss is also an adulterer but he can always claim that MiJeong put the moves on him and seduced him first. it’s a well-known fact in the office that HE cannot tolerate HER for her “incompetence”.
@wapz,
Another great post! Thank you. I’ve been meaning to reply to your other post in Episode 11, but when I went down to my study to type my long response, I was called away. 🙁 I intend to answer this post by hook or by crook.
Yes, as the drama comes to an end, the writing becomes tighter, more focused so it’s easier for us to see the general theme in each episode.
Yes, the Mom was the glue of the family. It’s because she lived for her kids. MJ misunderstood — or underestimated — her mom’s love.
From Ep 5,
Gu: Why don’t you have anyone you like? You have your family.
MJ: I don’t love everything about my mom and dad. I dislike my brother and sister a lot. I just feel sorry for my dad. I don’t think he’s ever been happy. And I think my mom thinks she’s unhappy because of her kids. So I say this when something bad happens. “It’s fine as long as Mom doesn’t find out.”
Her mom was unhappy with her kids NOT because she was disappointed with them or viewed them as failures. She was unhappy because she wanted better for them, and she worried for them. Her disappointment was only secondary to her concern for them.
This would explain her behavior when she found out about MJ dating Mr. Gu. Remember? Judging from her stunned, dumbfounded reaction, viewers expected her to be upset about it. But the following day, she went out to the work room and even handed Mr. Gu his cup of iced drink. Her gesture signified her acceptance of him. Although he was a drunkard, she saw that he was a good worker and that her husband approved of him.
Now, that the mom held the family together because she made their home worth returning to. For one, she cooked for them. For another, she did the laundry for them. She also nagged them. Yes, her nagging was a source of comfort, too, because it was a sign of concern. They grew up with her nagging, and they would miss that when she was gone.
There were a few striking changes in the family home when Mr. Gu visited.
a. The family pictures were taken down from the wall.
b. The kids’ rooms were used as storage.
c. The house was cluttered with items from unfinished farm chores.
Gone was the homely feel of the house.
I also noticed that the father limped, and his left arm seemed paralyzed. The new wife must have trimmed his hair and shaved his whiskers because he looked neater.
Dad: Even when you don’t know how you’ll go on, if you pull yourself together, you can still find things that are bearable.
That isn’t merely an advice to Mr. Gu, but an explanation of how he survived after his wife’s death. He didn’t know how to go on, but he focused on just getting through everything. This is his stoicism showing.
As for Samshik’s new name. That’s an old joke: anybody named with Bin is handsome. Think of Won Bin, Hyun Bin or Woo Bin (after Kim Woo Bin).
Also, remember they’re working at a HOST’s bar. If people associate a hostess’ bar with prostitutes or female escorts, then a host’s bar is for gigolos or male escorts. But I guess Samshik isn’t handsome enough to be working as a gigolo or a male escort. He’s Mr. Gu’s sidekick.
As for the passage of time, yes, I thought that was artistically done, too.
The director used the train station. It made sense because stations are for arrival and departures. Spatially, they were connected. She was coming home, and he was waiting for her.
Also, trains are an effective symbolism for time passing by. After two years, he saw the same old sign was still up — the one about something good will happen to him. (lol. Although I would call the billboard a bad omen. Something bad always happens to him whenever he sees it). A significant amount of time has already passed by for them, but he travelled through it in about an hour. It only took him about an hour to return to the past.
Okay, more later. Have to go.
@packmule3, I was wondering about the boss’s computer and initially thought it was a fantasy. However I also now think he’s usingJ’s name to cover an affair. MJ could be exonerated if it was determined that the messaging did not come from her computer or external devices because each has a distinct IP address. Her boss also needs her, even if he hates her because she is his most talented employee and everyone is that department of knows it. Her boss makes changes to her designs on paper but from what it looks like they are mainly superficial. Also, did MJ win the contest? It seemed unclear to me.
In addition I also find the timeline confusing. I think the earlier parts of the episode as it relates to the siblings happened around the time Gu left. If it happened later they’d have to age the child actress who played Yu-rim. We get clues using seasonal changes, Mom’s visit to the restaurant, MJ’e night walk, the truck accident. Three years later we know that Mom, the family glue, is dead. We also note that in particular the two men, Dad and Gu, have entirely new hairstyles with Dad being in entirely gray and close cropped and Gu having longer floppy front hair. Gu’s costumes are dark but expensive and his posture is changed. Although he still is a commanding presence to his underlings, he is not the same man who left. Like the earlier siblings, he,too, is trapped. He seems solace in the Yeom family but sees that all has changed. The Mom has passed away, the kids moved to Seoul(no Mom with her 365 days a year grind) and a house that is empty of life even though Dad has remarried a woman who seems to take care of him but also seems to have not left her imprint on another woman’s house, Dave for the missing family pictures. I got the feeling that the kids were estranged from the Dad.
Regarding the siblings, it will be interesting to see how they all are living. The two sisters seem to have the same work but it is unclear how the brother is employed. Their living arrangements were not shown. We don’t know if they are sharing an apartment, whether it’s a sub basement or a roof top, if itor if they are in dicey neighborhoods.
This episode left me with so many questions and with an overwhelming feeling of sadness coupled with nostalgia(Dad’s thinking about how CJ won his race and his sheer abandon racing the car. Mom’s sweet joyous look at her daughter’s boyfriend almost just before she died-did she die happy?).
I am hoping that we see happy liberation for our characters but I fear that we’ll be left with something in between. Am looking forward to reading our BOD comments to get through these final episodes. What I’ll end with here is a note on the acting. Our leads’ and secondary characters are superb. There are no false notes. They all are great at using silence and small facial expressions
If there was an award for best ensemble they’d get my vote!
Please all stay well.
@packmule3, I think that the mother also had a lot of affection and concern for Gu. It showed when she worried about when he didn’t show up for supper, when she made MJ bring his food over, particularly a favourite dish of sweet potato stems. She worried about how he got that old man to pay. (I’m actually a bit more worried now than I was back at that episode.) She praised his ability to work with Mr Yeom and she praised MJ in front of him. As you said, she gave him refreshing drinks after MJ said that they were dating, and she looked with approval when he took the heavy lunch bag from MJ and walked with her out to the fields later. She was probing MJ to see if she could get a contact for him so she could smooth out his exit from the rental property and maybe also to see if MJ might be dating him still in Seoul. I think like the rest of the family, except perhaps GJ, she was sad that Gu had gone.
Yes, that darned sign near the train track. The day that MJ walks confidently towards her house when the ambulance passes, I noticed that she is wearing wider legged trousers. I liked that the editors made the photography turn from colour to black and white as she realises that something very serious has happened within her family.
It’s ironic that the mother died just as the field was being sold, as she confirms that GJ was dating a decent man, as she vowed that she would start going back to church. It seems that it was a heart attack, or the last of a series of un-diagnosed heart problems. For women in particular, sudden heavy sweating can be one sign of a heart attack.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/heart-disease/art-20046167
Just some quick impressions. I’m more interested to see what the BOD contributors have to say.
To speak the obvious, Ep 14 showed the various manifestations of grief. Each sibling and Dad show their grief in ways that are true to his/her character. The writer has taken the time and effort to differentiate how grief is manifested. And each actor steps up to the plate.
Mj’s workplace situation is clarifiedbut not resolved. As someone interested in work, in general, I find that MJ’s position as a contract worker is fraught. We see a lot of this trope I n K Dramas, think Misaeng. This is typical in Asian economies where there is a two tier system. This system creates pressure on the contract worker who is looking for a way to get permanent (or lifetime employment as is the goal as seen by Japanese salarymen).For MJ it means having the ability to move to Seoul.
As names are important, we find out Mom’s and Mr. G’s names in this episode. Does anyone know the meaning and significance of the names?
Signing off now-just saying this episode brought me ugly tears.
Some quick impressions as well:
@Old American Lady, regarding the names, I had the same query, or more specifically why, with the family name of Gu, the other, given name would be Ja (Cha) or Bin as MJ implied? I was looking up Korean names and a native speaker on one thread commented that in Korea, you can’t put just any first name or mixture of first names with a family name. It wasn’t clear why. There may only be 1 or 2 Korean nationals living within 40 miles of me, so I can’t really ask anyone.
All I could find about Kwak Hye-Suk or Sook is this:
“Name Sook in the Korean origin, means She of pure nature. Name Sook is of Korean origin and is a Girl name.”
I couldn’t find anything relevant for Ja-gyeong or any variants.
About the emotions raised in the viewers, too. Unless you are someone who has never experienced the death of anyone very close, this episode brings up shared feelings or forgotten feelings regarding grief. This includes immediate grief, the moments of reactivated grief from seeing physical reminders, moments when the deceased still seems to be present, later moving on to moments of better memories and different perspectives.
I was moved by Chang-hee’s account of coming upon his grandmother as she took her last breaths and holding her hand until his father came home. I think that most children wouldn’t have done that – I think we are told to fetch an adult or call 911 in an emergency – but he understood that she might die alone otherwise. To me Chang-hee started out as the type of annoying person whom I would avoid IRL. But he has grown as much or more than the others in the course of this drama.
I was also perplexed by MJ’s description of the emergency services, who wouldn’t take Kwak Hye-suk to the hospital because ‘they don’t do that for victims of heart attacks???’. Really? Are all of the medical dramas lying to us when ambulances transport cardio patients? If that’s true, I wonder if the screen writer put that account in on purpose to try to effect change. If Mrs Kwak was pronounced dead on the scene, I would understand the reasoning, but that wasn’t mentioned. Also the police questions after a cardio death- Did you have a fight or whatever? Honestly. 🙄😬
@Fern, Your comments about the caring CH and his grandmother was spot on. While he sometimes appears superficial, he is really caring. He takes turns caring for his dying friend and has also proven to be supportive to his grieving father. The drama in its own way helps us all deal with the l OSS of loved ones by showing many of the ways people grieve without making value judgments. It shows how the loss of a loved one, the seemingly unappreciated mother impacted on the Yeom family. And finally, in death, we learn her hame.This episode was full of emotional impact. While fullof quiet and sad moments, the beauty of this drama is in its raw and realistic depiction of everyday life. It is not flashy but it left me feeling and thinking way beyond the end of each episode.
@OAL, yes, this drama does leave me thinking and feeling long after I’ve shut off the TV. After watching Episode 13, I did something I’ve never before done: I immediately went back to the beginning and watched it a second time. I’ve taken so long to post on this thread because I felt I needed to let my thoughts stew.
I am in awe of this screenwriter, Park Hae Young. I appreciate the way she brings back phrases and details to tie together scenes across the episodes. Examples:
–Worship
–Gu walking on the backs of his shoes; Gu pulling up the backs of his shoes just before chasing CH
–Baek accusing Gu of being happy about the death of little sister/girlfriend; Gu saying at Baek’s funeral that he’s the kind of person who’s happy when someone dies
–Feral dogs watched over by Gu; chased away from Gu by MJ; frightened away by MJ’s stare; dog’s death used as excuse by MJ when shopkeeper saw her crying
–Baby stroller representing common aspiration to have a family; baby stroller out of context in club; baby at center of conflict between wife and husband
–Words becoming/sounding real when you speak them
–Goats affectionate with humans; goats raised for food not named; if MJ weren’t pretending to be easy going, she would have eaten someone; MJ wants to swallow cute animal in one gulp; Gu wants to squeeze MJ and swallow her down in one mouthful.
Being that this screenwriter doesn’t seem to introduce unnecessary details, I’m still waiting for Sanpo’s village idiot, mentioned twice, to impact the plot. I’m also curious about Ssaebi. Will we ever see him? He’s been mentioned so many times! How’s this: We find out that Ssaebi was the man that others in Sanpo called Dummy. Tie up two threads at once!
@Welmaris, and when MJ was staring the dog down, she said something about, ‘after all the sausages I’ve fed you…’ as though she had carried on feeding them for a while after Gu left.
As to other missing people and items, I had a feeling that we might meet MJ’s ex at the club. It would be ironic if he were Ssaebi. Wasn’t Ssaebi said to be out of the country for a while or is that my imagination?
And what is the story behind Gu’s little diamante’ cross?
I have the feeling that MJ could have unwillingly maintained the secrecy of the boss’s relationship had he and his gf not brought it to her mother’s funeral whilst spreading rumours about her. I think that was the last straw and MJ was ready, figuratively, to kick them off a cliff. It seemed that she might have lost out at work due to her temper. She had to pay damages. But something must have worked in her favour because we see her well dressed and prosperous looking in the last scene.
What did you make of the last scene with the family of 4 driving in a big, new-looking car? I wanted to be happy for CH, but it seemed absurd somehow, especially when we know the family split up afterwards.
@Welmaris, another theme is names. As you pointed out above, the goats raised for food are unnamed. Gu was unnamed by choice, but when he asked MJ for a name, she jokingly said the he is just Mr Gu. The mother was unnamed to the viewers until the day of her death; a market lady called her name. Then we were reminded over and over whenever we saw the urn. At the club, it seems that many of the men have false names or nicknames. We rarely heard the father’s name. Gu says it to the new wife when he comes looking for the family.
Must go back to bed now.
We see in Episode 13 that Gu is doing his former work with his former competence. His job is to go from club to club owned by Chairman Shin, check the ledgers, and collect cash. The illegality of what he does lies in the clubs not reporting their full earnings to the government: unreported income is untaxed income. Gu also excels at collecting from customers who skip out on their bills: so much so that after entering this line of work, he became a manager in two weeks and a boss in one year.
Gu looks like he’s a physical and emotional mess. He’s not eating well, as he did in Sanpo when Mama made sure he was fed regularly. He’s not sleeping well, appearing exhausted. He’s drinking heavily. He can’t seem to dress appropriately for cold weather despite his wealth, almost as if he’s punishing himself.
Gu has an unexpected encounter with a baby in his office. Later, a bartender said, “It must have felt as if a bird flew in.” [In much the same way Gu views MJ as incongruous in his life.] This description was immediately followed by the bartender serving Gu a dinner that included sweet potato stems, reminding him of Sanpo, Mama’s cooking, and MJ. [I love the camera work here, how the camera pans and its angle tips, sliding and dumping Gu out of the frame, then the scene goes black.]
“Something good will happen to you today.” That’s what the sign on the top of the church reads. MJ said it is on the outskirts of Seoul: not exactly in the country, not fully in the city. There are two allusions to this sign in Episode 13.
The first is when Gu calls Sam Sik into his office by shouting the name Yeom Mi Jeong. Despite having used anything but his new name to get Sam Sik’s attention, this time Gu looks disappointed when Sam Sik appears before him. Was there a small hope in Gu that he could summon MJ just by calling her name? In talking to Sam Sik, there’s an undercurrent of Gu addressing the real MJ: “Mi Jeong. What do you want to do?…I want to be in a really good mood, but I have no idea what I should do. So I’ll let you do what you want to do. What do you want? Is there anything you wish to happen today?” Sam Sik chooses to go home; he’s so elated, it’s clear that’s where his heart is. Where is Gu’s heart? Sam Sik has given him the idea of what to do to get into a better mood: Gu heads to Sanpo, perhaps because it once felt like home to him.
Gu sees the sign on the top of the church as he gazes from the train window. We are shown that there’s a time slip by the reversing of the train’s motion, and the backwards cycle from winter to fall.
The second allusion to the church’s sign takes place in fall. We learn from MJ’s coworkers that MJ has won the design contest. One asks her, “Is there anything you wish to happen today?” MJ chooses to go home after work rather than celebrating with her coworkers. As she walks away from them, she’s thinking, “Come to me. I want you to come to me.” MJ is silently willing Gu to come to her: that is the good thing MJ wants to happen to her that day.
We see both MJ and Gu on the way to Sanpo by train, their trips juxtaposed, but because of the lighting we can tell that MJ is traveling by day and Gu is traveling at evening. They are not making the trip at the same time, but their identical paths represent their being one in spirit. Both look at the sign on the church as the train passes. As MJ leaves Dangmi station, she thinks to herself, “He’s coming. He came. He is…waiting for me.” At some other point in time we see Gu standing outside Dangmi Station where he used to meet MJ. He’s shivering in the cold night, looking for her among all the people exiting the station after each train.
This sequence is heartbreaking because it shows two people who want the same thing, but they come to the realization at different times and, therefore, miss each other.
I can empathize with MJ’s trying to will Gu to come to her. I can believe that she often, maybe daily, expected to see Gu waiting for her, was repeatedly disappointed, but continued willing him to come. MJ wasn’t wishing for Gu with the sense that her desire won’t come true. No, MJ maintained confidence that Gu would eventually return to her, sensing and responding to her telepathic call. In the same vein, Gu repeatedly speaks MJ’s name out loud like a magical summons.
Reviewing episodes, I noticed that the end of Episode 12 and the end of Episode 13 are the same scene.
At the end of Episode 12, we hear MJ’s voiceover as she walks the road leading to her house. She’s repeating the three tenets of the Liberation Club. “I will not pretend to be happy. I will not pretend to be unhappy. I will be honest.” In Episode 13 we see that this had been preceded by MJ calling to Gu in her mind, asking him to come to her; that day, he had not been at Dangmi Station to meet her. As MJ walks in Episode 12, she thinks to herself, “I hoped every man who ever left me would be unhappy. As if I wanted all the people who saw how small I was to disappear from this world, I hoped they would die. For you, I’m going to hope that you never even catch a cold. I’m going to hope that you don’t suffer a single day of being hungover.” [This is when the ambulance, siren blaring, passes her.]
In Episode 13, we learn that Gu’s evening journey to Sanpo, when he’d waited in the bitter cold outside Dangmi Station, was long after MJ’s journey with which it was juxtaposed. We are shown that much has changed in the intervening years. Papa is partially paralyzed: he walks with a limp, and his left arm is unusable. Mama died shortly after Gu left Sanpo, and Papa now has another wife. All three children have moved away from home.
During Episode 13’s flashback about the day of Mama’s death, we pick back up where we’d left off at the end of Episode 12, with MJ walking toward home. The ambulance passes her, lights and siren activated. She seems only mildly interested. Then the ambulance stops at her house, and the medics race up the stairs. She knows something bad has happened. As @Fern noted, the scene goes to black and white as the camera moves, shakily, to a tight shot of MJ’s face.
All of this news was relayed to Gu in heartfelt manner by a man of few words. I believe Gu listened carefully to this man whom he respects. Papa tells him, “Even when you don’t know how you’ll go on, if you pull yourself together…you can still find things that are bearable.”
His world, MJ’s world…all of the time Gu had been away, he may have idealized his memories of Sanpo. He may have thought the Yeom family continued in his absence as tightly knit as when he’d lived next door to them. He didn’t know they’d suffered immense loss and enormous grief. His visit with Papa was a rude awakening. He’s not the only one who’d been suffering since the fall of 2019.
THE STARING CONTESTS
When a show repeats something, I sit up and take notice. Something is being emphasized.
Something I want to emphasize first: this screenwriter has a phenomenal sense of humor. Part of successful humor is the element of surprise. This writer has repeatedly given us unexpected and unusual scenarios: GJ planning, then botching, the amnesia-as-excuse accident to avoid embarrassment after a rejected proposal; CH clinging to the hope of a Rolls-Royce, then worshipping the car itself; CH squealing as he runs from Gu, who is angry his car was dented; and now the boss & baby stare down.
In Episode 13, after finishing his night’s work checking ledgers, collecting money, and counting proceeds, Gu is dropped off at his office by Sam Sik. He sits at his desk, drinking and contemplating.
A baby was brought to a hostess bar. The distraught mother finds her stroller and baby at the hostess bar. Seeing that the baby is at the moment in the good hands of a hostess, the mother hunts down the father and drags him from one of the rooms. While the baby’s parents have a shouting match in the hallway, the hostess who was holding the baby decides to take the child into a quiet room. The hostess emerges from the room, arms empty, and closes the door behind her.
We’re back in Gu’s office. He’s holding his drink suspended between desk and mouth. Rather than seeming contemplative, Gu has a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. The camera angle switches to his vantage, and we see he’s looking at the baby seated on his couch. They quietly stare at each other. Gu raises his glass of scotch to salute the baby, then seems to regret having done so. The baby looks at its bottle. The two continue to silently look at each other. When the hostess comes back into Gu’s office with the baby’s jacket, Gu breathes a sigh of relief. As the hostess leaves with the baby, she speaks and waves goodbye to Gu on the baby’s behalf. Gu responds with a half-hearted wiggle of his fingers.
Baby won this staring contest.
Having a stroller introduce this little storyline recalls the words that Gu spoke to MJ during their breakup, that she should desire something normal like a stroller (implying a baby) rather than worship or liberation. When faced with one himself, Gu demonstrates how unnormal a baby is in his life. Normal depends on context.
Even though babies are not part of Gu’s world, nurturing is part of Gu’s nature. He couldn’t leave the feral dogs to their own devices: he fed them treats and brought them an umbrella for shade. When he went on dinner dates with MJ, he’d anticipate her needs and take care of her without being asked. When he saw MJ shaking with emotion and hunger, he gave her the ramen he’d cooked for himself. But when Gu faced the potential of domestic bliss, he ran away from MJ, thinking he could sever all ties with her. (He couldn’t, if he was honest with himself, because MJ had taken up residence in his mind and heart.)
Over dinner that includes just the two of them, Mama asks if MJ has maintained contact with Gu. MJ is short with her answers. She tells her mother she doesn’t try to contact Gu. After dinner MJ bundles up and goes for a walk to the mountain overlook. She passes the street lamp Gu had intentionally broken with a rock: it is fixed and shining. As she climbs, MJ thinks, “When I get frustrated, I go out for a walk at night thinking, ‘I don’t care if I die tonight’. I walk through a pitch-dark mountain. What’s the big deal about some guy leaving? He ran because he was afraid of being happy.” After a few moments of looking at the view she and Gu had once enjoyed together, one of the feral dogs comes out of the brush behind her. The animal control officers had said the feral dogs were smart, recognizing their vehicles and running to the mountain whenever they arrived to catch them; this dog must be smarter than the one we saw captured the day Gu left Sanpo. MJ slowly bends down and grabs a stick, then takes a firm grip on it while adopting a defensive stance, thinking, “Tonight, I have nothing to fear. I’ll become a warrior.” She speaks out loud, “Bring it on, you damn mutt. You ungrateful mongrel. Do you know how many sausages I’ve given you?” She thinks, in voiceover, “I want to bleed like a fountain.” MJ and the dog stare at each other for a few moments, then the dog turns tail and runs back into the brush. MJ is the alpha.
I have several thoughts about this scene.
–I find a contradiction in MJ thinking she’d be okay with dying, then defending herself when imperiled.
–MJ had coolly told Gu she would end their agreement by spring, when she felt better about herself, but resents Gu for abruptly leaving her.
–Words MJ speaks out loud to the feral dog might as well be words she’d like to say to Gu: “…you damn mutt. You ungrateful mongrel.”
–MJ’s claim she wants to bleed like a fountain makes me think of Gu, in the same situation earlier, having been angry with MJ for chasing away the dogs because he’d rather face misfortune bit by bit (bite by bite?) than have it accumulate to hit him all at once.
MJ does not like conflict. She says she pretends to be easygoing. In many instances when people are being offensive, she just smiles and stays quiet. But on the mountain, faced with a dangerous dog, MJ prevails. On an animalistic level, she’s very scary. Gu recognized this in her, and so does the feral dog.
In this staring contest, MJ beats the feral dog (a proxy for Gu).
Gu is 0 for 2 in staring contests.
I am interested that MJ has changed her phone number. Actually there are several things in the re-encounter scene that both recall and refute earlier interactions between her and Gu.
This time, he is the one to initiate the encounter. She says she can’t, but he won’t accept her excuse once he knows that she isn’t being ‘worshipped’ by anyone else. Was she testing him by saying she gained weight? The meeting recalls the encounter in Seoul when he met MJ near her workplace, but although she arrives on time in this scene, she doesn’t come running.
She had said that she wouldn’t compete with a boyfriend again when thinking about her ex. She didn’t want to respond as they had. Gu changed his number so she couldn’t contact him. She seemed to keep trying for a long while. Yet when Gu said she was bold to change her number, she told Gu outright that she was ‘so angry waiting for you to call’ and that if he had wanted to he could have contacted her because he knew where she lived. “You never called my previous number, did you?” He didn’t need to answer. He may have tried, we don’t know. MJ didn’t speak in an angry way, but she was low-key nagging him and he let her. He didn’t put up with nagging in Sanpo. Here, I think they were both just happy to hear each others’ voices.
They both indulge in small talk, in a very normal fashion. They comment on each others’ hair styles and Gu asks her, “Aren’t I handsome?” which makes her giggle. -The sort of small talk that they never had in Sanpo.
He says he missed her so much. It’s the sort of compliment he couldn’t bring himself to give her back on the farm.
They speak without really looking each other in the eyes except for brief moments. Finally Gu comes in front and turns to face her and repeats her words about squeezing and eating that she had said to him. He’s showing how much of their old conversations he had stored up in his head.
This time I feel like Gu is doing most of the work. He started out trying to be cool but gives up and flirts outright. He even asks “Aren’t I good at worshipping you now?” She doesn’t respond, but smiles.
MJ clears her throat and asks, “What is you name?” I think she thought she ask at last. “Gu Ja-gyeong is my name,” he replies without hesitating.
Ack! @Fern, you make me want to keep going with this conversation, but it’s 2am here in California. I need to set down my phone and go to sleep. I hope I can, despite the way my brain is racing right now.
I’ll be back after I get some rest. I don’t want to end up haggard, line Gu.
@Welmaris, One of my posts to you has gone missing. I am haggard this morning due to insomnia. Thank you for your posts today. Sleep well. Read you later.
@Fern and @Welmaris, You two are not the only ones not sleeping. This lurker, yours truly, has been hanging on your(the two of you) every word. 8 am glad tha5 you chose to postpone more comments with sleep because it gives me permission to do thecsame. 😆
A small comment about MJ. When she meets Gu she is considerably more polished looking from her hair to her clothing(hinting that she has attained some professional success). She also shines. I know she is happy to see him. Gu’s posture changes here too. He is not stooped. His face becomes animated. You can cut the sexual tension with a knife in this scene. (I do prefer Gu with short wavy hair though). Both actors’ performances are super good. They are both so nuanced. They are a pleasure to watch.
A small note on Lee Minki. I think he gets a lot of the comic work although he is no slouch in the tragedy department. I love seeing his versatility in the same drama.
And looking up our actor who plays Gu, I found that he lived in the states, went to college in Chicago and appeared in the Wachowskis’ Sense 8. They are also fans of Bae Doona(another favorite of mine) who has been in that series as well as their mivies.So, I’d love to hear him speak in English(always great when you see another dimension to the actor).
I’ve gone on too long. It’s morning now and I’m going to take a nap.
@OAL, being from the Chicago area myself, I would have dozens of questions to ask SSK. His background is altogether interesting. I’m sure he knows the area better than I at this point.
As an expensive, vital asset to this drama’s production, I doubt SSK would be allowed to get so thoroughly chilled as his character appeared to be at the beginning of Episode 13 while he waited for Chairman Shin, and toward the end of the episode as he waited for MJ at Dangmi Station. SSK probably had heat packs under his clothing, keeping him warm. So let’s assume all that very convincing shivering was acting. I’d be willing to wager, @Fern & @OAL, that SSK learned what it is like to be chilled to the bone during his sojourn in Chicago. That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it!
I may be the only one, but when I saw the scene of Gu descending into the subway on his way to Sanpo, it almost looked as though MJ was coming out of it. Episode 13, 20.30. My laptop doesn’t have brilliant clarity, so I’m probably wrong and it would be rather cliche’ anyway.
@Welmaris, another repeated theme is babies. It started early, when Chang-hee said that the girl who liked him at work seemed like the type who wanted a baby and he didn’t feel he could offer that to her. GJ and her friend mentioned their dislike of the “family of 4” – I think she called them a fortress? My impression was that she thought them smug and unassailable. There was Gu’s mention of the stroller and MJ’s retort that she would carry her baby. Later we saw the baby and stroller at the club. In the scenes for next week, GJ is holding a pregnancy test.
Hi, @Welmaris. Yes, SSK would be well familiar with an icy winter especially since the Art Institute of Chicago is nearly on the waterfront – the winds off the lake would make it feel even colder than the given temperature. Mind, Seoul is only a little bit warmer than Chicago in the winter.
I wonder if he speaks English with a Chicago accent?
@Fern, bwahaha!
https://youtu.be/vc9pDieYDYg
SSK probably felt right at home pronouncing T as D, as something similar happens in Korean depending on where ㄷ appears in a word. At the beginning of a word it can sound like T, but within a word can sound like D.
Thank you for the reminder of my native accent, @Welmaris. It is stronger in some neighborhoods than in others, the same way some Cornish people speak like movie pirates and others don’t.
People in Chicago sound like they are angry even when they are not. Waw-der = water. Mahp = mop. My grand-dad used to turn some th sounds into t. Tings = things. He wasn’t Irish but was affected by some immigrant Irish accents (not all Irish people say that.) I watched another video where a man said ‘gratchky’. That would be garage key. Haht dawg = hot dog. My family calls my husband Bahb. Gosh what an annoying accent, right? Lol.
A little travelog below:
@Fern, has your wayward post appeared?
I think, @Fern, that babies are a sub-theme of what you mentioned earlier, parenting and families in general. We see so many types of families: Du Hwan alone after his mother died, relying on hometown friends as his only family; two generations of a family being raised by aunties (Tae Hoon and his sisters raised by their aunt in Sanpo after their parents died; Tae Hoon relying on his sisters to help raise his daughter after his divorce); the Yeom family of father, mother, and three adult children, intact but not without problems; Hyeon-A’s ex-boyfriend, who is so disgusted with his toxic mother that he desperately, as he’s battling cancer, tries to create a new family with Hyeon-A and Chang Hee; A-Reum and her father in partnership to use their positions and wealth to their advantage in a legal, but not particularly moral, way; the convenience store owner who vents for hours on the phone with CH because of her cheating ex-husband, refusing to let go of her anger; Baek, who parlays the suicide of his little sister and his supposed outrage into a stronger position in Chairman Shin’s organization; and Gu with no known family, just connections through business. I think the screenwriter shows us over and over again that there’s no perfect family, yet people keep hoping for one. One of those fortress-like families seen in the mall might just have a father that feels no qualms about bringing his baby to a hostess bar.
What about the Yeom family, considered to be a good one by an outsider like Gu? The adult children squabble amongst themselves and suffer dissatisfaction with their lives even as all their basic needs are being met. The father, by allowing his sister to take financial advantage of him, pushed his wife and children into decades of austerity. After eating with the family, it is Papa’s habit to put down his spoon without a word and go back to work. When his son tells him “I love you,” Papa only lowers his head and walks away. Mama works every day of the year to smooth the paths of her family, cooking for them, doing the grocery shopping, washing and folding their laundry, working alongside her husband in factory and field. When at home, MJ would often help her mother; only after Mama was gone did her husband and all three children step up to share household tasks. I find it very sad that in the last hours of her life, her oldest daughter dismissed her as an embarrassment, and Mama learned her younger daughter had detached from her emotionally. Mama was overworked, under appreciated, and marginalized by those to whom she’d devoted her life.
@Welmaris and @Fern, SSK is probably used to extreme temperatures. While watching Behind the Scenes footage, I see the actors wearing large puffer coats like Canada Goose and the NorthFace between takes. They also can be seen carrying space heaters during the winter. At least SSK gets to wear some nice woolen coats(although unbuttoned). I don’t think S. Korea has comparable OSHA laws like in the US. I think their actors and film crews work under much more difficult conditions. They are a tough lot and don’t seem like American more pampered talent. In so many productions you see the condensation coming from their mouths during cold weather. During hot weather when they wear complex costumes as in the sageuks, they walk around with portable fans. They never let us see them sweat. So yeah, I have very high regard for these performers who work under severe weather conditions to bring us all great pleasure. And the actors generally are not paid as well as ours.
SSK also is an interesting guy. He served in the army in Iraq. He was a CEO of a family owned business.
I’d also like to hear a SSK’s accent. So many Korean actors have lived elsewhere. Gong Hyo Gin lived in Brisbane. Ahn Hyo-seop aka Paul and Choi Woo Shik in Canada. Taec-yeon in Massachusetts. What fun to hear all of those accents.
@Fern, I’m a native New Yorker and have lived most of my life in thiscity(with a sojourn in New Jersey). I am very aware of actors whose fake New York accentsare just grating to me. You see the difficuly for people from Chicago because somany can’t disguise that flat a sound. And there are variations of the Irish accents in New Yorkese. I have a good friend who was a former nun who comes from New York but as a nun got a masters degree from Loyola Chicago and who at one time worked for ChicagoCity government. She is of Irish background and mostly speaks like a New Yorker but still has a few odds with a Chucago accent. I know that we miss out on Korean actors doing dialect(as in CLOY).it would be great fun to be able to distinguish how well the actors speak in dialect. That’s where we’re lost in translation.
What a great job for a dialect coach.
Off topic: @Old American Lady, I imagine in some cases, the New York accent changes from street to street due to waves of immigration and settlement.
The interesting thing with accents is that they change constantly. The Chicago accent I heard as a child has morphed into something slightly different due to influences of mass media, movement of people and other things.
The British accent is different now, too. You can hear the change in things like interviews recorded in the 20th century. I should say accents because in such a small country as Britain there are many embedded accents depending on location and those are influenced by education and family background.
It is indeed something we, as non-native speakers, can’t easily perceive in the K-dramas and C-dramas that we watch. How do chaebols speak compared with someone in other income brackets? How is the Seoul accent different from the standard Korean taught in schools and from other nearby provinces? I could hear Woo Do Hwan’s two accents in TKEM because the differences were rather extreme. He was born in the suburbs of Seoul. I can’t judge whether he did a good job with Satoori or not.
The Jeju dialect is said to be almost another language. As such, some subtitles needed to be inserted in Korean in “Our Blues” without some subtitles even in Korean. Here is what one of the actors said:
“As we were filming in Jeju, we didn’t have professional extras as we would in Seoul. Residents of Jeju from areas like Gonae-ri, Aewol and Seogwipo acted as extras,” Lee Jung Eun shared.
“In the scenes set in the fish market, they sometimes actually purchased fish to bring home. Some spoke the Jeju dialect, which I didn’t understand, so there were times when I didn’t know how to react,” she added.
My kids used to think that languages and accents are a boring subject. Thank goodness, now they know more than I do about accents.
You make great points @Fern. There are so many variations with accents. In New York there are differences by borough and ethnicity
One great one comes to mind-New Yoriquen-the Puerto Rican variant that brought the word Loisaida or Lower East Side to common use.
There are YouTube programs about British accents.Thry are fascinating and get into the nitty gritty.y husband got me into these. The Cornwall accent is very esoteric. I KK eep thinking of Poldark where, had they used it, nobody would understand it.
So we no Korean(name the language) are missing a lot even with subtitles because we are not hearing dialect.
Here’s a funny for you
When I was in public high school I took Hebrew and Spanish as languages
One year I won the Golden Ayin award for the best Hebrew student(Ayin being the first letter for the Hebrew word for Hebrew-ptonounced Ivrit). As part of the award I was given the Hebrew original cast album of the Israeli version of My Fair Lady. Imagine the irony of getting a Hebrew version of a drama about the English language.
That is such a laugh, @Old American Lady. Did they manage to get a sort of working-class city accent in Hebrew for Eliza and her father?
There’s something else that’s funny. I can understand *some* Irish accents better than my husband (whose own mother is from Waterford) and I’m definitely better at ‘getting’ Scottish accents than he is. I had to translate between our English plumber and the Northern Irish representative of a heating system when I had only been in the country for a few months. It made no sense at all to me. It wasn’t that the plumber wasn’t trying to understand – it was sincere. It could be somehow related to how the Irish and Scottish sound or turn of phrase infiltrated the common American English?
As to the most recent Poldark series, they had a vocal coach on site. The problem was, the ML was Irish, another SML was Australian and no one was Cornish, except for some extras. I tried but can’t find the YouTube video that showed the coach correcting the accent anymore.
I did find an example for you of a very inland Devon accent. I live near a city in Devon, so I don’t hear this strong of an accent often. This weatherman for the BBC was asked to do the forecast in his original accent. He’s in management this days, so it’s rare to see him do this, but good fun. Proper job!
https://en-gb.facebook.com/bbcspotlight/videos/best-weather-forecast-by-a-country-mile-/1904374266294729/
Just caught up with the rest of you – avoided starting this series until it had almost finished airing, as I get too impatient with the drip, drip, drip of weekly episodes. If I like a series, I need to binge!
Thanks for all your insightful comments, as usual. Really increases my appreciation of the drama.
One thing I keep wondering about is why this series feels so different from most I’ve watched. I think it has something to do with the soundtrack – there’s very little background music other than the songs. So we hear more natural sounds – crickets, mosquitoes, footsteps, breathing. But I can’t quite put my finger on it ie. why I feel it’s a different experience watching this series.
By the way, does anyone else find the opening credits to be at odds with the drama itself? The opening cartoon sequence of the bus etc seems to fit more with a cheerful rom-com than the unhappy existence of most of the characters. Although I do agree with several previous comments that there are a lot of humorous moments without being comedy. But I don’t think this series is going to end happily-ever-after, so don’t know what to make of the cheerful cartoons in the opening credits.
@Rebecca, I agree with your opinion on the opening sequence and music. It’s a cartoon, so you expect it to be cheery. In fact the characters look tired and care-worn as they travel, so it’s a bit ironic. In my usual habit, I watched it before the first episode and have skipped it nearly every time since.
@Rebecca, so glad to hear you’re watching My Liberation Notes. I agree, it is a different kind of story told in a different way than most Kdramas. Not that I’m saying they’re equivalent, but I think of it as the difference between reading a Faulkner novel and the latest Danielle Steele bestseller. One is not more valid than the other; they appeal to different audiences. If I were to put it in movie terms, My Liberation Notes is more arthouse than blockbuster.
@Fern, I agree that the opening credits animation isn’t as cheerful as the simple lines and bright blocks of color would suggest. The characters look harried, tired, and contemplative.
@Welmaris and @Rebecca, I was thinking about the music behind the opening animation. On first hearing it with the visual animation, I thought the drama would be more upbeat, too. It is sort of a disconnect to have that style of animation with characters whose actions seem downbeat. (I can’t describe animation well.)
I can’t find the lyrics in English, but I found the whole song now on the OST. It’s called “To Be Together” and it sounds wistful. In the portion of the song that plays in the credits, it almost sounds to me like a march or anthem but lighter because of the use of a bright piano style and a staccato marching drum beat. The way the notes descend straight from high to low remind me somehow of a melody that could be used for graduations or other occasions if the arrangement was different. But I’m no musician.
I found the lyrics on another site. They are similar to MJ’s early thoughts about a non-existent lover supporting her and later about her interactions with Gu. The lyrics describe someone who is not around for a non-specific reason and mention being together even when reborn. A love that exists despite separation. Taken literally, it could be a bit ominous?
@Fern, last night I listened to the OST of My Liberation Notes as I drove down the mountain from my cabin. The full version of To Be Together gave me goosebumps, particularly after the rest when the full orchestration burst forth. I’ve recently learned that such a phenomenon is called musical frisson. https://www.discovery.com/science/Getting-Chills-from-Music
Mama experienced frisson when she watched Gu long jump over the ravine to get MJ’s hat. It may be her reaction was similar to someone listening to music that meets and exceeds expectations. At that moment Gu, for whom Mama had developed fondness, exceeded her expectations. Viewers, too, I might add. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisson
Before this drama wraps up this weekend, I want to look more closely at the reunion of MJ with Gu.
We are not sure how much time has passed since they saw each other in Gu’s house, the night of their breakup conversation. Gu collected his final pay from Papa in September 2019, then drove away from Sanpo. In an earlier episode we did see a flash forward of Gu walking through a club during a New Year 2022 celebration.
Here are some timeline clues from Episode 13. During daytime we see Sam Sik pick up Gu to drive him to work, in the background I noticed a Christmas wreath (ep. 13, 18:16). [This follows the baby staredown, then Gu’s 4am meal which included memory-inducing sweet potato stems.] When Gu calls Sam Sik into his office using the name Yeom Mi Jeong, it’s the next scene and he’s wearing the same clothing [dark grey collared shirt with silver snaps over a black turtleneck, grey woolen longcoat, tan slacks], so the implication is it’s the same day. After talking with Sam Sik, who chooses to go home to feel good, Gu leaves his office and goes to the subway. We see him riding an evening train wearing the same clothes as earlier, so we’re in the same day we’d seen Sam Sik pick him up for work. When Gu waits outside Dangmi station, he suffers from wintery temperatures. At night when he is greeted by Papa’s new wife outside the Yeom house, Gu is wearing the black shirt with silver snaps we’d seen him wear on the train, so it is later on the same day. Gu and Papa have a talk, and Gu learns that Mama died in fall of 2019, shortly after Gu left Sanpo, and the three children have moved to Seoul.
Timeline, based on clues spread over eps. 13 & 14:
–September 19, MJ’s last text exchange with Gu.
–September 2019, Gu and MJ have their breakup talk; Gu leaves Sanpo.
–A shopkeeper sees MJ crying. MJ tells her it is because the family dog has died.
–MJ tells Mama that she does not try to contact Gu.
–Fall 2019, after Gu’s departure. Mama learns her shopkeeper friend had seen MJ crying. MJ wins the design contest at work. That day, MJ calls Gu to her in her mind, and thinks of him while walking. As MJ is on her way home from work, Mama dies of a heart attack while napping.
–Mama’s funeral. Many acquaintances of the siblings attend, but Gu doesn’t because he is not in contact. MJ’s adulterous co-workers behave inappropriately at Mama’s funeral, giggling and playing footsie.
–MJ gets phone call at work from cheating boss’s wife. On a subsequent day, MJ has a physical confrontation with her co-worker who is the boss’s mistress.
–MJ is called in to Human Resources to give her statement, and is told she can’t work in the same department as the others involved in the incident. Later, as she walks toward home, she encounters Du Hwan and his soccer students. Du Hwan comments that MJ is home early. But before she came home, MJ stopped to eat in the same dumpling restaurant Gu had taken her for their makeup date in Episode 10. MJ leaving work so early after meeting with HR could imply she’s no longer employed, but we don’t know that for sure. MJ choosing to eat in that particular restaurant, as she keeps her attention on the door and the street beyond, could be because she hoped to encounter Gu. It also is reminiscent of her having pretended, then experienced with Gu, having someone supportive sit next to her to ease her through work-related stress.
–Papa remarries, Papa suffers a stroke leaving him partially paralyzed, and the three siblings move to Seoul…not necessarily in that order. MJ gets a new phone number.
–Baby in Gu’s office.
–Gu has meal in bar at 4am. Sweet potato stems make him think of MJ and Mama.
–Sam Sik picks up Gu in daytime. A Christmas wreath is on a building in the background. Gu calls Sam Sik into his office using the name Yeom Mi Jeong. After Sam Sik chooses to visit home, Gu goes to visit Sanpo. It is during frigid weather.
–Gu talks with Papa in the Yeom house in Sanpo. Gu learns that Mama died in fall of 2019, and that all three Yeom siblings have moved to Seoul. Papa gives Gu MJ’s new phone number.
–Gu is sitting in the bar he’d been to after a baby had visited his office. He’s in the clothing he wore to Sanpo. He’s sniffing, and wonders why he’s tearing up when he’s not sad.
–Gu goes home from the bar (still in same clothes). The entry, hallway, and bedroom walls of his apartment are lined with a variety of empty booze bottles. Bright sunshine is peeking through a crack in his drapes. He flops on his bed.
–Standing outside during the day, wearing a different outfit, Gu phones MJ. He’s in the city, surrounded by tall buildings. Based on the position of the sun relative to the horizon, it is either morning or late afternoon. I’m guessing morning, because the sunshine is bright when Gu and MJ meet an hour later.
–MJ meets Gu in a park-like setting, on a pedestrian bridge overlooking Seogang Bridge and the Han River. Was that elevated setting chosen as a meeting place because it hearkens back to the mountain overlook in Sanpo?
THE PHONE CONVERSATION
Phone ringing
MJ: Yes? [sub: Hello?]
Gu: [Silence]
MJ: Hello?
Gu: It’s been a while.
MJ: [Silence]
Gu: It’s Gu. [Like when he’d clarified it was Gu the first time he texted her.]
MJ: It has been a while. [She sounds cool and calm.]
Gu: How have you been? Have you managed to liberate yourself? [This is not sarcasm, because there’s no contempt in Gu’s voice. He’s referencing something that had been at the core of their relationship, and a point of contention at their breakup. The words liberation and worship have special meanings for these two, and by asking MJ about liberation and worship, Gu is speaking their language of love. He’s also, in a way, validating MJ’s desire for liberation and worship.]
MJ: Of course not. [MJ exhibits the realism Gu felt she lacked in the past.]
Gu: Have you met someone who worships you? [Is she in a relationship with someone else?]
MJ: Of course not. [Gu worshipped her. Gu holds a unique place in MJ’s life.]
Gu: Let’s meet up. [He’s made the first move toward reconciliation, by calling MJ and asking to meet.]
MJ: I can’t. [She’s trying to not run to Gu at his first whistle, like she did after they’d a falling out in Sanpo.]
Gu: Why?
MJ: I’ve gained weight. I need to lose some weight. [This was a bogus excuse, MJ trying to buy time, and both recognized it as such. It wasn’t MJ’s looks that drew Gu to her. Gu is surrounded by attractive women in his line of work, and doesn’t look their way. Gu often saw MJ dressed for farm work, yet she’s the woman who took up residence in his mind and heart.]
Gu: Lose some weight in an hour and meet me. [Excuse rejected. Postponement not granted. By setting their meeting in an hour, Gu must’ve assumed MJ would drop everything and come to him right away, which she did. Using public transportation in a city takes time, so one hour notice is rushing it. Gu couldn’t wait to see MJ.]
THE MEETING ON THE PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
–Gu arrives first. He bites his lips, sighs, and looks around for MJ. [He’s full of nervous anticipation.]
–MJ arrives shortly after Gu. [She didn’t make him wait.]
–MJ has a small smile when Gu first catches sight of her. He can’t keep his eyes off her.
–MJ stops a few feet away from Gu, facing him.
–Gu’s emotions are running so strong that he grins, and can’t look directly at MJ, first looking from one side to the other.
–MJ grins, then laughs a little. She also has trouble maintaining eye contact.
–Both make an effort to overcome their discomfort and look at each other.
Gu: You haven’t gained much.
Both laugh self consciously.
Gu: What?
MJ: You’ve grown your hair.
Gu: Aren’t I handsome?
MJ giggles.
Gu: And you’ve cut your hair.
MJ: Yes, a little.
Gu: You changed your number.
–Gu walks toward MJ.
Gu: That was a bold move. [Gu changed his number right after they broke up so MJ couldn’t call him as she’d insisted she would. He wanted to enforce his clean break. By changing her number, MJ demonstrated she could be equally decisive.]
–Gu walks next to MJ; MJ turns and walks beside him as they descend the bridge.
MJ: I was so angry waiting for you to call. It’s not like you don’t know where I live. I thought you’d be able to if you really wanted to. [MJ left the ball in Gu’s court, in matters of rekindling their relationship, but is open about it having been hard on her. Although MJ now lives in Seoul, it sounds like Sanpo is still home in her heart. And Gu trying to find MJ in Sanpo is exactly what he did when he was ready.] You never called my previous number. Did you? [She must’ve retained her old number for a while after Gu disappeared.]
Gu: I missed you. So much. [Gu doesn’t directly answer her question. He didn’t call, but this assures her he didn’t stop thinking of her.] It sounds real now that I’ve said it. [Alluding to MJ’s having told him that speaking words makes them true.] It feels like I really missed you so much. [You did, you fool! You tried to drink her out of your head, and never succeeded.]
–Gu steps in front of MJ to look at her directly.
Gu: I wanted to squeeze you and swallow you down in one mouthful. [Another reference to one of their conversations in Sanpo. Back then, MJ had expressed mild anger at Gu, who hadn’t returned her texts, with a joking threat to kill and eat him as if he were an unnamed goat. She then changed the tone by saying, “It’s weird, but when I see something cute, I get the urge to squeeze it and eat it. In one bite.” Gu responded, after a moment of looking at her, “You just tell me anything you want now.” Both seemed upset after he said that, and Gu strode away from MJ. Gu adopts words he’d disdained to describe his current happiness.
–Both laugh. Gu continues walking next to MJ, looking at her.
Gu: Aren’t I good at worshipping now?
MJ: [Clears throat] What is your name?
Gu: I’m Go Ja Gyeong [sub: It’s Go Ja Gyeong].
What strikes me during their reunion is how things MJ said in the past are fresh in Gu’s memory. Even when he didn’t understand her or agree with her, he listened to her. Then, over the time since their parting, those words became precious to Gu. He cherished them. And once he initiated a reunion with MJ, Gu couldn’t wait to show MJ that she’d permeated his life.
Episode 14 ends with MJ, almost as an afterthought, asking Gu’s name. There’s power in knowing someone’s name. In Sanpo, Gu kept his name secret because he wanted to escape his identity: he didn’t want his past life to catch up with him, and he didn’t want to be pre-judged in his new life. In sharing his name with MJ, Gu signals he has nothing left to hide from her.
@Packmule3, please open a new thread for My Liberation Notes Episodes 15 & 16. Thanks!
@Packmule3, I wrote a long comment analyzing the ending of Episode 14 and laying out a timeline between MJ & Gu’s breakup and reunion. That comment disappeared after I posted it, without so much as a note to tell me it is awaiting moderation. I hope you can find it.
Thanks @welmaris!!! We were traveling on vacation last week so I couldn’t say much but I really enjoyed eps 13 and 14. I haven’t decided if this reunion is before or after 2022 NYE scene but I think after.
I really enjoyed their reunion. It felt very wedding like with her in white walking up the aisle. I saw a few comments saying they thought she welcomed him back too quickly but I don’t see it that way at all. She didn’t have any animosity when he left and she knew he’d returned to his other life and his intent to keep it separate. I think she did finally get angry later as she thought she might during their last conversation but her “punishment” was changing her number. By the time he called and she answered on the new phone she knew he had already jumped through some hoops to get to that point. Why not just be happy when you’re reunited. There’s plenty of time later to ask the hard questions, it doesn’t have to be in the first 5 minutes. And just a note on the acting…the inhales, head nods, smiles, eye contact…I loved all of it.
Poor mom but also hope she finally gets some rest in heaven. I think it was the first time she was shown in episode one there was a shot of her leg scar and then it waist tied into its own joint replacement burial.
Also the friend conversation about seeing people they’d heard the names of at the funeral and the ones impression of GJ confirming the nasty coworker—so real and wonderful. And CH steady tears.
Not really interested in GJ proposal but whatever. I want to know how Ch and Hyuna end up and I want to know if MJ left her job and lost contact with the liberation club (except for TJ) or if she was able to stay because maybe credit card woman saved her. Wish I had more to add but it’s mainly just gushing. Thanks for clearing up the timeline.
@Welmaris, Yes to everhing you posted here. Just a few lighter observations. Gu softens around MJ. Like the scenes in Sanpo, the two walk in step. Their paces match. MJ looks far more put together and prosperous.We know she won the contest, but had discussions with HR about not working with the adulterous couple. Does she now work in a different department? Is her work status permanent? Did she get a promotion? We know she lives in expensive Seoul. Her hair is styled. Her clothing looks expensive. Just questions and hope for anawers.
@Welmaris, thank you for the timeline clarification. Like @birdie007, I can’t figure out if the 2022 New Years was before or after the reunion but everything else seems fairly clear now.
@birdie007, I hope you were able to relax and have fun with your family during vacation.
Yes, @birdie007, I did notice the scar on Mama’s knee one time she was wearing shorts and sitting out on the pyong sang. I also have one on each knee. I also noticed Mama had to do a modified prostration during the death anniversary ceremony in their home. Artificial knee joints don’t flex as far as natural knee joints, but it depends on the manufacturer and how hard the patient works at rehabilitation shortly after surgery. Still, even though I gained more flex in my knees than my orthopedic surgeon expected, I’ll never again be able to kneel with my bum resting on my heels, as I don’t dare over-extend my very expensive hardware.
I was touched by CH and his hometown friends burying Mama’s knee prosthesis. I wasn’t sure what to think when the crematorium worker asked CH about the remnant and CH told him to pack it. At that point, CH may not have had a plan, but it was part of the mother he knew, and he didn’t want to leave it behind. I think burying it under a tree on a hill overlooking the factory and house was a lovely thing for CH to do.
As for those who think MJ came to Gu too early, that is their opinion, but not the opinion of the screenwriter. We learned the view of the screenwriter through GJ talking to her superiors at work. “But is it a good thing to make him [Tae Hoon] anxious? Why is it a good thing? He’s anxious. You get anxious, and it drives you crazy. Isn’t that a bad thing? It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it? When a man and a woman like each other, shouldn’t you give each other the fullest? Why would you string it out in small portions? What is that? If you feed them like that, they’ll kill you. [Sub: You’ll be murdered if you feed someone like that.] So why do I have to give out my affection like that? What’s good about not giving enough? Shouldn’t you give as much as you can? Getting anxious and playing hard-to-get… Aren’t they all bad things? Rather than good?”
I think the screenwriter has imbued all the siblings with the same opinion in this matter. It is why CH couldn’t “just date” the work colleague who had a crush on him: even from the start he had to be prepared to meet her expectations at their fullest, and he didn’t believe he could do so.
Going back to review GJ’s monologue about relationship behavior made me realize the screenwriter also believes in telepathic communication. GJ says, “I’m sure he [Tae Hoon] knows I’m looking at my phone all day…How could he not? When I’m emitting this huge energy into the universe? How could it not reach him?” MJ directs her thoughts to Gu, calling him to her; Gu fights it by immersing himself in work and drowning himself in alcohol, but can never force himself into that clean break he wanted. It took months or years, unlike Tae Hoon’s 2-3 day lag in response to Gi Jeong’s huge energy into the universe, but Gu eventually did what MJ willed him to do: “Come to me. I want you to come to me. He’s coming. He came. He is…waiting for me.”
I have experienced a similar thing. Once I was agitated for no particular reason, and turned down a stay in the mountains with my parents and sisters, even though I’d been the one who’d arranged it, paid for the lodging, and drove them up there. On my way back down the mountain, I received a phone call from my daughter’s roommate telling me she’d been hospitalized. I am convinced my mind and heart were tuned to hers in her time of need.
The screenwriter gives us another example of telepathic communication when Chang Hee, after discovering his stricken mother, runs from the house shouting for his father. Papa takes one look at CH standing with one bare foot, and without one word of explanation looks from CH toward the house. He knows it is Mama who is the cause of worry.
Again, I have personal experience similar to this. When I was a child, playing with some friends down the street from my house, I saw my brother drive by with my mother in the passenger seat. I only saw them for a moment as they passed. My brother was a new driver, so my mom being with him to supervise shouldn’t have been unusual. But somehow, in an instant, I knew something was wrong. I ran as fast as I could up the street to my house, to find my father inside, distraught. My brother took my mom to the hospital because they thought she was having a heart attack (this was before the 911 universal emergency number was implemented); my father stayed home until he could locate me and my two sisters. (And it was long before the days of cell phones: kids went out to play in the neighborhood and were only expected home when the street lights came on.) I’m not sure how long my mom was hospitalized, but the childhood me felt like it was forever. She was okay: because there was no scar tissue generated, they called it a heart episode rather than a heart attack.
@Welmaris, I don’t think that MJ came to Gu too early either, for your reasons and others. He had her new phone number. It could only be because he came to one of her family to look for her, most likely her father in Sanpo. Coming across the siblings in town would have been almost like finding the one won coin in the mountainous pile and knowing them, they would have told her immediately. We don’t know how much time passed between his visit to her father and to her – it could have been a day or it could have been months again because the weather went from wintery looking to fairly mild, judging by their clothing. She must have understood that he had his reasons.
I was also struck by the tone of the reunion. Compared to the weighted feeling of their strange relationship in Sanpo, the reunion talk and actions seemed bright, effervescent and socially normal.
The reunion was what I expected it to be. He’d whistle and she’d come running.
We know that she wasn’t the type to hide her feelings for him anyway.
But a flirtatious Mr Gu was a bit disconcerting to watch. He looked very boyish, and different from the Mr Gu we knew him to be.
I did like however that everything he said harkens back to an old conversation. It meant that he remembered everything they talked about.
Gu: Have you managed to liberate yourself?
MJ: Of course not.
Gu: Have you met someone who worships you?
MJ: Of course not.
Then, later —
Gu: You changed your number. That was a bold move.
It was a bold move considering that before he left, she wanted to arrange a monthly, even bimonthly call.
MJ: I was so angry waiting for your call. It’s not like you don’t know where I live. I thought you’d be able to if you really wanted to. You never called my previous number. Did you?
Gu: I missed you. So much. It sounds real now that I’ve said it. It feels like I really missed you so much.
This is from Ep 5 when MJ told him that the moment a person says a lie, it becomes a truth. She then dared him to say anything, and he paused for a second then walked away without a word.
Gu: I wanted to squeeze you and swallow you down in one mouthful.
I remember the time when MJ found him at the convenience store by the train station. She was relieved to find him there and she told him that she wanted to hug him at sight.
MJ: (laughing)
Gu: Aren’t I good at worshipping you?
MJ: What’s your name?
Gu: It’s Gu Ja-Gyeong.
And this is from Ep 12 when MJ told him that her family didn’t eat the goats with names. He was shocked to hear that, and so he asked her to give him a name already.
Now that Mr Gu has a real name implied that he no longer intended to be a stranger and wanted to stick around in her life.
I’m wondering how much more of the reunion we will see. Will Gu say more about why he couldn’t/wouldn’t call MJ? Will MJ see the inside of that awful club?
My opinion only: Gosh, I’m not the interior design police, but every time I see the corridors and private areas of the club I shudder. The room where the money was being counted for example.
To me MJ arrived, but on her own terms. Gu had to do all of the calling, flirting, and showing off. MJ kept her distance somewhat. She even nagged him and he didn’t mind. It’s not something I would catch, but I read somewhere that the director asked the FL to ask for his name as though they were on a first date, so the question and the reply were both formal.
@packmule3, yes, what an absolute shocker to see that Gu could flirt like a normal guy, not nearly as ‘cool’ as the other time he came to meet her. I can only guess that in any other relationship he had, the courtship perhaps didn’t happen at a slow pace but happened at work and was more superficial? I think that the pretty bartender likes him though, don’t you?
@Fern and @packmule3, Gu almost seemed like a giddy teen after(aren’t I handsome)coming around to face MJ full on.He is no longer in hiding. But I hare to ruin this rodeo, he still has his “work” that is somewhat nefarious and full of danger. His “colleagues” and enemies would think nothing about harning a loved one to get to him. He knows that. Can he retire? Unclear.In the harsh face of reality would MJ want to be a mob moll? She seems to have a moral compass. These final two episodes will give us answers but I’m not seeing a conventional happy ending for MJ but do hope for her liberation, whatever that means.perhaps it will include Gu because he has yet to be liberated and MJ may prove to be his road to freedom.
@Welmeris @Fern I also agree that MJ didn’t come too quickly to meet Gu. She had said (to herself) after he left Sanpo (at the end of Ep 12) that she wasn’t going to be angry with him like other boyfriends who broke up with her – she wanted him to be ok:
MJ: I hoped every man who ever left me would be unhappy. As if I wanted all the people who saw how small I was to disappear from this world. I hoped they would die. For you, I’m going to hope that you never even catch a cold. I’m going to hope that you don’t suffer a single day of being hung over.
So I think she really cared about him and wasn’t going to make him wait for her on the bridge just because he broke up with her a few years ago.
I also agree with @Welmeris @Fern that MJ didn’t come too quickly to meet Gu. She had said (to herself) after he left Sanpo (at the end of Ep 12) that she wasn’t going to be angry with him like other boyfriends who broke up with her – she wanted him to be ok:
MJ: I hoped every man who ever left me would be unhappy. As if I wanted all the people who saw how small I was to disappear from this world. I hoped they would die. For you, I’m going to hope that you never even catch a cold. I’m going to hope that you don’t suffer a single day of being hung over.
So I think she really cared about him and wasn’t going to make him wait for her on the bridge just because he broke up with her a few years ago.
@Fern, it may be a small detail, but I don’t think the money counting took place at the club. Rather, it looked like they were in an officetel (common in Seoul city center). Since they were processing money not lawfully reported as income, they’d want to be off site to reduce the chance of the clubs being raided and shut down. I bet Chairman Shin has a large number of safe houses, using different ones each time so their location is hard to predict.
@Packmule3, at their reunion, Gu bounced around MJ like a puppy, didn’t he?! Makes me think of before and after photos of adopted rescue dogs.
@Welmeris @Fern apologies if someone else has already posted a link, but here’s a YouTube video with the lyrics for To Be Together:
https://youtu.be/0HUQ8M0Ebxc
As Fern said earlier, lyrics reflect MJ’s thoughts an imaginary loved-one supporting her. While I agree this doesn’t bode well for our OTP, I think that knowing you have been deeply loved (or that you are love-able) can sustain you even after that person is gone from your life.
Apologies if someone else has already posted a link, but here’s a YouTube video with the lyrics for To Be Together:
https://youtu.be/0HUQ8M0Ebxc
As @Fern said earlier, the lyrics reflect MJ’s thoughts about an imaginary loved-one supporting her. While I agree this doesn’t bode well for our OTP, I think that knowing you have been deeply loved (or that you are love-able) can sustain you even after that person is gone from your life.
@Rebecca, Your comment rings true. All of our siblikkkngs have fraught relationships and each sibling is quite loveable. Knowing this is helpful but to me, it is still sad. It would be nice to see them have a sustaining love relationship. It is very hard to hug air.
There is a Reddit advice column which is titled AM I the A..hole. None of the siblings are and have each tried to accommodate their loved one. Reciprocity is quite difficult for their partners and in a way the siblings make excuses for them. I would wish that Gu could quit his job, or plan to quit it by amassing money to live out the rest of his life with MJ. It was very enlightening that he told her that he was once a host( how degrading was that job). She reacted but barely. His current job is just too dangerous and his boss has noticed that he is losing his edge to alcohol. Gu can’t in good conscience ask MJ to remain with him because it would be too dangerous for her ( and he has yet to go into detail with her in her role as therapist).
@Welmaris, People with I’ll gotten gains don’t report them and use various methods to keep them under wraps. They carry large cash wads to keep from creating records. They rent rather than buy cars and homes and do so under a relatives or a spouse’s name. They store 3xcess cash in safes, safe deposit boxes and storage lockers. They wear expensive jewelry and watches. Some have even availed their children of free lunches because their tax returns are too small. So this drama is quite accurate in showing these transactions-lots of duffle bags and suitcases. The decor of the club serves to underline how sordid Gu’s life is. MJ’s job would be in danger if her bosses knew about her relationship because it involves high security credit/ financial cards.,thecwriter has set this couple up for failure.
My dream for Gu is redemption(time jump showing MJ meeting him upon his release from prison).
CH really impressed me in this episode. He paid off his debts and showed a cerebral side that I was not expecting. When he looked out at the mountain at the end of the episode, a lot made sense.
GJ is not in a good relationship and the entire scene in the restauran5 where 5he fifty year old spoke to 5he merits of being older and not being married may have given her an out. Tae-hoon comes with too much baggage, especially that one sister. He doesn’t seem liberated enough to overcome it. I think she would have been better off with someone like her boss to whom she confided.
And finally, I loved the short moment of normalcy for Gu and MJ when he bought her the sneakers and tried to bight the label/price off the gloves. Those are the moments we hope for for those two.