The subs in the Watchasian site translated the title as “Method of Consolation” but amazon prime subbed it as “The way I console you.” I prefer the latter version because it sounds personalized, and it’s line with the subject of this drama which is personal service.
For the record, here are the titles of the episodes.
May I Help You?
Ep 1 I do anything for you
Ep 2 A strange woman
Ep 3 Let me tell you a secret
Ep 4 The guy I already knew
Ep 5 Misunderstanding and prejudice
Ep 6 The way I console you
I’ll be quick with my notes on episode 6 because I’ve meetings up to my eyeballs. I’ll add another post tonight.
A. DongJoo
In this episode, we can see how DongJoo has received consolation from many people.
1. From TaeHee
He praises her: “They’re pretty. They’re great. Your hands.”
He understands her loneliness: “You couldn’t tell anyone. I bet it was lonely.”
He doesn’t pressure her. He tells her that if she finds her “homework” too demanding, she can simply drop it, and take a beating from the teacher. Lol.
He encourages her to fight back. He left her a sticky note, saying “Don’t chicken out.”
He also waits for her. Having him there to meet her after a grueling day is definitely the emotional support she needs.
TaeHee: You did well today as always. It’s tomorrow, right? The Coffining.
DongJoo: (yes)
TaeHee: (softly) So that you don’t regret anything. Everything that you wanted to say or couldn’t say, you should go tell her. She would be happy that until the very end you were with her.
DongJoo: (nodding)
Aside from the fact that he waited for her, I like this scene because:
a) he reminded her of the essential,
b) he stepped in and acted like the adult in this moment,
c) he sounded like he was speaking from experience. He probably didn’t have the opportunity to say goodbye to JunHo, and he didn’t want her to regret like he did.
d) this is part of HIS grieving process, too. By being with DongJoo, he’s belatedly processing his own loss and grief.
And DongJoo is cognizant of TaeHee’s efforts. I like that she doesn’t hesitate to acknowledge what a big support TaeHee has been to her.
DongJoo: I was scared for no reason. It’s just nice and cold.
TaeHee: Huh?
DongJoo: The rain. Every time it rained, I always just waited for it to stop, or waited for someone to bring me an umbrella. I didn’t have to.
TaeHee: (teasing her) You only found out? At age 25?
DongJoo: Ever since I started the job, I never thought to myself that I was lonely. Well, I was about to for the first time…mmm…
She pauses because she’s about to be transparent and confess something open-heartedly.
DongJoo: But then someone told me not to chicken out.
They stare at each other. She waits for his response.
TaeHee: (changing topic) Your eyes are all puffy.
DongJoo: Pffft.
If I were DongJoo, I’d consider his reply as dodging the bullet. I was obviously sending him a signal, but he evaded it. Wait! Not only did he evade it, but he remarked on how ugly I looked and called me bugged-eyed. Lol. He was obviously keeping it friendly between us.
He chickened out!!
TaeHee: It’s nice out here today.
DongJoo: Just today? Didn’t you say you like rain?
TaeHee: It was a lie.
DongJoo: Why would you like about that?
Liking/disliking the rain was such a trivial issue; she wouldn’t have taken it against him if he admitted to disliking the rain. She, of course, doesn’t know that he attached the rain with an unpleasant memory of a break-up with his ex. That time, he himself had chickened out.
TaeHee: (admitting) I wonder about that, too. I said something meaningless.
DongJoo: Pfft. With that being said, it’s raining. So Haemulpajeon?
Lol. I think I know what this is. It’s scallion pancake. In “A Business Proposal,” Shin Hari invited Taemoo to eat pancakes on their rainy date, too. I’ve to remember this trope.
TaeHee: (teasing her again) With makgeolli?
DongJoo: (beaming at him) Sounds good.
lol. That’s another way he consoles her. He knows she likes to drink so he offers to drink with her.
2. From her uncle, the priest
He offers free counseling and beer. That’s how he consoles her.
3. From her father
He makes sure she eats. That’s how he consoles her.
The warm father-daughter relationship is one reason I like this show, too. I’m tired of dramas where fathers and mothers are the bane of their children’s existence.
Just a brief mention on the family lunch together.
I’m sure you enjoyed that as much as I did. DongJoo couldn’t understand why TaeHee was so scared the whole time. She teased him for shaking.
Of course, she didn’t know that TaeHee was lying for all three of them. He saved not just one life during that mealtime, but three: hers, her dad’s and his. He had to be on his toes the whole time, and not slip up.
It must be pointed out that her dad also rescued Taehee. DongJoo wanted to know what TaeHee was doing at the memorial park but her father knew that TaeHee wasn’t willing to open up and talk about Junho’s death just yet. So he distracted DongJoo by commenting on the side dishes.
Taehee’s reluctance to talk about Junho was also obvious on the bus ride home when DongJoo wanted to know how he ended up with “Dime a Job.” He said that he was working for his uncle, and before that, he was in the army. He wasn’t being forthright about his past unlike DongJoo who’s an open book to him.
Anyway…
I was actually waiting for the moment when her father would discover that TaeHee and DongJoo are friends. He couldn’t have wished for a better husband-to-be for his daughter. No wonder that he kept shaking TaeHee’s hand. He looked pleased and eager to cement their friendship (and hand off his only daughter to Taehee. hahaha)
Isn’t this heartwarming when the father approves of the man for his daughter??
On a side note:
I like how TaeHee unconsciously matched DongJoo’s outfit to his when he went to her apartment and picked out her clothes for her. They both wore blue tops, jeans and sneakers.
4. From her dead mother
The rain comes but she listens to DongJoo’s prayers. I hope to talk about this more in another post.
5. From the umbrella grandma
To me, this moment was the gamechanger in this episode for DongJoo.
DongJoo: And thank you so much for not taking pity on me because I had no mother. For being compassionate and loving to me.
Grandma: Yes. I’ll tell when I meet your mother. I promise to tell her that DongJoo grew up beautiful and great.
DongJoo: Thank you.
Grandma: Of course, I’m sure mom is always watching over you. Stop the crying, child. Grandma is happy. I’m happy that I got to see you before I go. Happy that I can talk to you with a clear mind like this. Sora also, but DongJoo. Find your match quickly. Love is an amazing feeling. There’s nothing better than that in this world. When it’s hard and tiring, you bring out the memories to endure for the rest of your life.
Then she reminisced about her husband.
Grandma: The time I waited for Sora’s grandpa, dinner on the warm side of the room. Going past the town entrance to great Sora’s grandpa coming home on a bicycle. When he would pull out roasted chestnuts from his clothes that he kept in there just in case it gets cold on the 10 ri way home. When we would eat them together.
And if we look at the last episodes, we can see that DongJoo and Taehee are already making memories like Grandma’s.
Grandma: You live thanks to those tiny moments. These memories will never, ever be forgotten or disappear.
DongJoo: (sniffing)
Grandma: Whether it rains or pours, live your life loving.
DongJoo: Yes, maam.
Grandma: Soon, there will be a day you recognize him. That miraculous moment will come to you. Alright.
I like the message of this drama that meeting the person you love is a miracle in itself.
She caresses DongJoo’s hair and passes away.
Without a doubt, the grandma’s last words made an impact on her. The next time it rained, instead of waiting for the rain to stop or for Taehee to get her an umbrella, she decided to run for it.
And he joined her.
That’s how the grandma consoled her — even when she was dead — and changed her life.
B. Taehee
What we don’t see in this episode is how Taehee has received consolation. I’m sure people around him tried to console him. His mother and his uncle did.
His ex-girlfriend, too.
ExGF: Chagiya! I know it’s painful and hard. It is for me, too. I’m about to lose my mind. But do we have to break up because of this? Why?
Taehee: (not responsive)
ExGF: I’ll wait as long as you need it. You’ll be okay after some time.
Taehee: Chungha. (pushing her hand away) I just can’t stand myself. Me, being alive and breathing! I’m disgusted by myself.
Hmmm? Is this translation correct? Is he disgusted *by* himself or *with* himself? There’s a difference.
If he’s disgusted WITH himself, it means he feels self-hatred because he lives while JunHo died. Like I mentioned in “My First Impressions,” he seems to be experiencing survivor’s guilt.
If he’s disgusted BY himself, it means he alone is feeling this disgust, this guilt. Everybody who knew him has absolved him of wrongdoing. They believe that he wasn’t at fault for JunHo’s death. He alone thinks that he was to blame for the death. This would explain why in Episode 5, he dreamt of JunHo accusing him, “Why did you kill me?”
Taehee: (continuing) Struggling to form a family with you. Even this rain falling on me. It’s just all horrible. I’m sorry. (walking away)
This is the primary reason I welcome the exGF’s appearance at this point, unlike many viewers. The breakup is an unresolved issue. And if TaeHee is going to end up with DongJoo, he should face the Other Woman now and make peace with her, just like the hero did in “Once Upon a Small Town.” This is the mature way of dealing with past and present relationships.
But he rejected them. The priest is correct. He said, “Maybe he can’t handle self-blame. Some people have it bad.”
He’s only beginning to find consolation in DongJoo’s presence now.
Annyeong,
This is very nice – your notes on Ep 6. love this episode. yes, i that lunch when TaaHee had to lie for all three of them – poor guy- caught in between. i can see why it seems the father approves of TH. He’s very welcoming of him – from the get go. when TH dropped him off to his shop, he left his door open for his fellowship. there’s already a bromance there or something life that.
love how this episode shows the way they console each other, from the grandma to the mom in heaven; from the father to TH. i liked that you included the convo here coz i like what the grandma said also to DJ = to live life whether it rains or pours. and that led to our OTP to run in the rain. it’s kind’a like their “rain dance” or dancing in the rain moment. love it. rain is so refreshing but not a lot of us prefer to get wet – like we’re going to melt haha. seattle people make fun of non seattlelites who are afraid to get wet = it rains there so much and they don’t let the rain stop them- they don’t care if they are caught without umbrellas. they just wear rain boots or rain gears haha.
there’s a reason why DJ met TH’s ex gf on that bridge to help the homeless man. at first i was like, who is she. they showed her also when she saw TH rescue that man on the bridge and she dropped her board. the girls both have kind hearts. but i saw the break up, no matter how sad it was, i figured it’s because they’re not meant to be. but yea, it was a shocker to see her there… she was probably surprised that TH looked comfortable socializing with a girl like he’s moved on. i still do wonder if TH will go back to that profession coz i think he can once he’s all healed. and what will happen with DJ after her 21 assignment? will she be a civic servant? hmmm
i haven’t watch “small town” yet. maybe after this series 🙂
Kalimera Ladies!
@Packmule3, I was debating with myself where to write what I wanted about TaeHee’s hands. I am going to post it here, in order to keep it spoiler free in Ep.5’s thread! 😋😁
We have Dong Joo’s hands and we have TaeHee’s hands.
DJ’s hands have a supernatural element, we could say that this is a miracle. She is blessed to be with all those people in that make up room talking with them and reassuring them.
Because – my guess – is that this gift Dong Joo has is not only God’s answer to her, but also her late mom’s. Something @Packmule3, you pointed in Ep 6’s thread.
Dong Joo is / was a miracle for her mom and she still is.
I think her gift is to make her realize / come in terms with the fact that she is not responsible for her mother’s death. As a child she was praying to her mom a lot and I think that it is a divine answer to her prayers.
As for TaeHee, his hands are those of a healer. He was an emergency doctor and even now that he is helping his uncle, he is doing manual labor using his hands. Up until Episode 6, before the revelation that he is a doctor, we get to see many shots about his hands as well.
So for me, TaeHee’s hands have the same significance as Dong Joo’s, but in another level.(Let’s remember that Tae Hee used his hands in order to stop that heartbroken father who wanted to commit suicide. Those hands of his became a comforting backhug to a man that lost his everything.)
What we do know for sure about the child JunHo is that when he met Noona aka Dong Joo he told her, prior his death, that he forgot his ring to that market. Later on Dong Joo found indeed a ring in that now closed market and she is keeping it because she couldn’t find JunHo’s family to return it back.
At the same time, we also know that day TaeHee was going to propose to that lady doctor. So, the ring that DJ found, could be the engangement ring TaeHee was going to give to his then girlfriend? I think that it is.
My guess is that the child JunHo is TaeHee’s little brother. Especially after what TaeHee’s mom said to her brother on the phone about her karma.
Anyway, we still don’t know what happened that day, but TaeHee blames himself and the fact that he was doing CPR with one hand, check the picture @Packmule3 posted in Ep.5’s thread, means that he was injured himself or his hands were numb trying to revive the boy for so long.
For me, during their journey, Dong Joo and TaeHee will heal each other, console each other and they will use both their hands for holding each other… And that hopefully will be a wonderful journey to watch!
Great points about their hands, @Cleopatra. I agree with what you said about healing each other so they can walk together.
Yes, I agree with your engagement ring scenario. @Fern is of the same mind, too. The ring belongs to TaeHee and was intended for his then-girlfriend.
Just a little add-on. When doing chess compression on a child, only one hand is needed because of the size of the child.
I haven’t done the write-up for Eps 3 & 4 because I’m lazy. 🙂
Hey @Packmule3!
It is good talking to you in -almost- Real Time! I am glad you like my thoughts. Yes, healing each other will be their blessing. I am eager for Wednesday to come in order to see what will happen next!
I read your posts in the morning back to back from the notification I’ve got, so now I have to read the comments as well. I am glad that we are all in tune!
Thank you for letting me know about the chess compression on a child. I am planning to learn how to perform CPR in the near future. I think it is needed.
It’s okay. When you have time, you can do that OR maybe not. Being lazy is good as well for you, if you have a hectic schedule these days!
@packmule3, I liked what you wrote about Tae Hee consoling Dong-Joo 1d: that this is part of Tae-Hee’s belated grieving process for Jun-ho. He keeps wanting to ask her if she remembered Jun-ho, but he can’t quite manage it yet. Like you and @Cleopatra, I think Dong-Joo’s mother, with Divine intervention, is pulling strings to put all of these people in each other’s orbits to solve problems and instigate healing. There was also the meeting of Dong-Joo and Tae-Hee’s ex-fiancé at the bridge. So many co-incidental meetings.
Now I’m wondering about the uncle. He seems a bit fragile, or somehow anxious and incompetent to be running a business but maybe it’s the burden of keeping things going for Tae-hee’s sake as well. –And Dong-joo’s immediate boss with the lady with a bruised face and a baby who is ‘ill’. I’m worried that one of them will end up as one of the deceased characters. We shall see, I suppose.
@HK_Lady, You made me laugh with recognition about the Seattle rain. I moved to England from Seattle, so rain is in my destiny. I would say, ‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire’, but it’s more like, ‘Out of ocean and into the sea’ because we live in Devon now. Seattle has so many slug jokes and ‘stay put and you will rust’ jokes, too. I left SO MANY umbrellas on the Metro buses. Handbags with open tops are ridiculous there – unless you want the contents to be sloshing around by the time you get to your destination.
I miss the ‘Evergreen State’ and the Emerald City.
What I like about K-dramas is that there seems to be a ready supply of cheap umbrellas at every corner store, so it must be real.
@packmule3, The end of episode 6 was a cliffhanger. My Amazon Prime feed showed no new episodes after Episode 6 and I know that this drama has 16 episodes. So what gives? I hope Amaxon will play episode 7 and 8 as MBc will be doing on November 16 and 17 or shortly thereafter. I am too inest4d in this drama.
TH blames himself for his brother’s death because (as we see in a later episode) he’d asked Jun-Ho to bring the engagement ring and meet him in front of the market. It was while Jun-Ho was doing this task for Tae-Hee that he was hit by a truck. Tae-Hee feels guilt because his brother left the safety of their home on a rainy night when he asked a favor of him, and because he was running late leaving the hospital when his brother was hit in front of the market (the implication being that if Tae-Hee had been on time, he might have been able to prevent the accident or save his brother).
I think TH’s ex-girlfriend and his former colleagues are dismissive of TH’s sense of guilt and grief. They seem of the opinion that TH is being excessive, needlessly punishing himself when, as they see it, he had minimal involvement in the accident that took his brother’s life. Their empathy is limited, and has a short shelf life. TH felt his brother’s lifeless body under his own hand. He loved his little brother, and misses him. TH regrets he couldn’t spend more time with his younger sibling. He senses the pain other family members will endure the rest of their lives because of the loss of Jun-Ho, and blames himself for that as well as Jun-Ho’s death. For a healthy future, Tae Hee does need to process his guilt and grief, but not just brush it aside and power on with life as usual as others seem to expect of him.
Dong-Ju is able to empathize with Tae-Hee because she also suffers from guilt over the death of her mother. Dong-Ju can’t celebrate having been born, because her mother died as a result. Dong-Ju doesn’t want pity because she’s motherless, yet the death of her mother is something that has colored her entire life. It is part of who she is. And the loss of his little brother has forever changed Tae-Hee. Dong-Ju accepts Tae-Hee for who he is now, not who he used to be, nor some expected version of him when he’s “cured” of his sadness.
Dong-Ju has also had to deal with revised life dreams, letting go of ping pong after having intensely pursued it many years, and been good at it. Tae-Hee put tremendous time and effort into becoming a doctor, but walked away from that career for his own reasons. In this, they are kindred spirits, and Dong-Ju recognizes TH and herself as such. She speaks truth when she tells TH she knows what it’s like to be misunderstood or judged for choosing to redirect one’s life.
@Welmaris, So beautifully said. I wonder whether we’ll get the full reasons for our leads’ decision to turn their lives around. There is so much to our couple. Dong-joo is deeply moved and is in no way superficial. She is very protective of her father and hides her deeper emotions well. I think young Hyeri does a lovely job conveying the subtle depth of her emotions. There is honesty about her performance as there is about his. They give us room to care. The supporting characters provide the color and humor and help us flesh out our couple’s journey. They also are given lives of their own. I love Sora and her crush, our funeral director colleague.The two uncles, TH’s partner and DJ’s priest are perfect book-ends. The police officer who pines for DJ has his own secret. DJ’s father has one, as well. I think they call this world building. I am very much looking forward to seeing how everything sorts out.There is a lot of promise here.