The thread is open.
Don’t be surprised when I open more rewatch threads for MOA tomorrow after the rewatch. That’s to ensure that the rewatches continue even though I’m not around to open the thread.
Schedule of the rewatch: Saturday, 13.30 UTC
5.30am PST
8.30am EST
9.30am Caracas
1.30pm London
2.30pm Paris
3.30pm Athens
9.30pm Singapore, Perth
This is the schedule of the rewatch, per @GB.
Episode 7 – Feb 18
Episode 8 – Feb 25
Episode 9 – Mar 4Break – Mar 11
Episode 10 – Mar 18
Episode 11 – Mar 25
Episode 12 – Apr 1Break – Apr 8
Episode 13 – Apr 15
Episode 14 – Apr 22
Episode 15 – Apr 29
Episode 16 – May 6
Join @GrowingBeautifully, @WEnchanteur, @salteddust, @LootieLyn, @Feifei, and @OldAmericanLady in discussing the show. By the way, where’s @FGB4877? Is he okay?
Enjoy the rewatch!
Thanks so much @pkml3!!
So you want me to nag you to open up the next 7 weeks of MOTA threads and the next 2 threads (2 x 4 episodes for the remaining 8 episodes) for Kokdu as well?
That’s a LOT of threads!!
I emailed @FGB some time back. He did say that he knew he ‘owed’ me a reply. I trust that no news is good news. I believe that he’s busy with things other than dramas for a bit.
Hello, I’ll be here. I’m already here.
I’m not sharking because I proofread episode 27. ^^
With one of the most stunning cliffhanger of the drama.
So huge that even in season 1 we don’t get this awesomeness. (here I kiss myself, lol)
But okay I was going for that. A season 2 have to be more “woo” than a season 1. 🙂
Hi @WE, no don’t lurk in a shark-like manner!!! LOL.
I’m glad that you’re pleased with your work. Enjoy your proof-reading.
See you in a little over 2 hours’ time. 🧐 🤓 😎
Hi all, I am here; a bit blurry eyed and making do with day old coffee as the coffee grinder was temporarily on the fritz (fixed now by my handy husband). @WE Congratulations on writing an episode that you love! So difficult! I might have mentioned before that I am trying my hand at writing poetry. So far I have not figured out how to edit my own poems (at least after the first few days), even when they are clearly not as good as I had hoped. It’s apparently not the same at all as the scientific writing I used to have to do (ha ha). Anyway, I am up and can type one word after another so more or less ready for our re-watch.
Hi three @salteddust (@SD) good to see you early although blurry-eyed. We start about NOW!!!
Hi salteddust!
Now I’m working quite fast. Well, still long but I spot very quickly problems or just write better (what mean “concise” in screenwriting) from start. Or rewrite, as it’s corrections. But deep ones, with change of scene orders, and so many change that it’s like a new draft. Ep27 and worked a lot the last two months. Ep14 to 27.
Since I don’t waste time anymore on photo-editing.
Poetry could be of use for screenplay as you use to find words. My words are simple ones, because I write in french then translate in english. And I can’t spot a large variety of english words.
So the characters are often “confused, horrified, stunned”, etc… I can’t count how many time I use horrified. I put a bit of scared and terrified too. lol.
This episode start with grandma snoring.
Well, it needs a start. ^^
Freshened my coffee. Good segue into snoring grandma!
Hi @WE, maybe instead of horrified you can describe how their faces paled although of course that’s hard to ‘act’. LOL.
Started!!!
I am here.
@SD, come to think of it,… this thing about snoring – sleep – not being able to sleep – needing to sleep to avoid the duels… The question that may be in the air is whether some of this is just a dream, hallucination, what is real and what is fake.
Then we get the fake email LOL.
Hi there @feifei (@FF) good to see you!! I’m four minutes into the show.
@GB, the problem is: know when to choose face description or just a quick word. Too much face description don’t say the truth and can be too long. But I use some when I need.
I like the music when HJ is lying in bed: creepy yet with soothing high tones. You know from the music something is not right.
Hi feifei.
So back in seoul with weirdos in the street. ^^
@WE, match cut from window of Hee Ju’s place in Granada to windows of multi-storey buildings in Seoul… and the game played ‘locally’. Nice transition.
Lot of people in the toilets.
But now there is commercial partnership.
Logical.
The change in the music when we are in Seoul is nice too. And at first it seems like an ordinary Subway, then ‘Are you looking for the restroom?” and the weird person looking at all the stalls and reaching into the air, “Wah”, and the music kicks into high gear.
@WE this is a show with many ‘toilet’ scenes Heheheh! What a place to get a rusty sword. Must be the damp in the toilet that gets the rust coming along.
@GB, I look back. It was a “fade to black” transition. 😉
Hi WE, you write stories? Wow.
The game sequence is the same, find the level 1 weapon in the toilet.
He say it: the first sword is always in the toilet. lol.
I also like the way this scene plays out with the cuts between the really people cavorting in the square to the computer nerds monitoring everything.
@SD yes, I take music cues to know what the emotion is being suggested.
@feifei, yes, screenplay. W season 2.
and a bit of other stuff.
At the rate they have to eat to get health points, etc… those players are going to be over-weight and unhealthy on burgers and soft drinks!!!
Eat subway and get +100 life points. lol.
The product placement of this drama is insane, and so well incorporated.
@GB, the more they get fat, the less they can fight, the more they need HP, the more they get fat, the less they……….
@WE, I don’t know how many dramas have a Subway placement in them, a lot it seems to me. Nothing like it in the Chinese dramas, except Apple computers (every computer is an Apple – ha ha).
@WE what you say about this show being slower… I felt it in this episode when I did a quick rewatch. There’s time to show the driving, and more lingering on some scenes.
Church scene. Here it’s a whole trick from the writer because SJJ needed Jin-woo shoots from the back. But he comes first to see people.
Hi @GB, I think we are about the same pace into the episode.
@WE, I know, right? What a horrible vicious circle of being unhealthy and spending money on it!
And the click click of the cane, echoing in that large space and all turn. Great shot of the interior of the church. Nicely shows Jin-woo’s separation from everyone else.
@SD, that year or so, Subway was the big PPLer in kdramas. Seems to have been overtaken by some others now.
@GB, I can’t know for sure, but maybe SJJ became very catious after W. She did a 17 ep screenplay for a 16 ep drama. Maybe some conflicts with the production which couldn’t extend.
So, MOTA she has a main story, but can spend a little time here or there to complete screentime. It’s faaaaar slower than W.
But not slow if we compare to others dramas.
@FF, from time to time I pause the show so I may end up slower.
I still do not understand Professor Cha’s fondness for Jin-woo. I am still just an episode or two ahead in this show.
@feifei. Here my blog with screenplay.
http://w4worlds.eklablog.com/
Real kdrama feeling. 😉 If you read, you can freely comment on each episode. BOD style comment, lol. Trying to see foreshadowing?!! ^^
@SD, I, too thought that Prof Cha was fond of Jin Woo. He might have appeared more competent or more helpful for the success of the beloved company.
Every time I see Kim Eui-sung in this episode I am amazed at the transformation from the character he played in ‘W’. Like Meryl Streep he becomes the character he plays.
Jin woo is now officialy a mad man seeing things.
Pretending to fight a guy in a AR game, etc.
Church scene: see, he sits behind. So when he goes out, he can do the gun trick. 🙂
What is that expression on Su Jns face as she looks at Jin Woo? Almost like accusation or hate? Then she’s crestfallen when caught by father-in-law.
Shoot a guy in a church should be very bad for karma…
Yes the expressions between the two are so subtle and so good!
The little girl is so cute!
I would be JW, I would first exit the church.
Then shoot him outside. !!!
@SD, Kim Eui Sung is one actor whose characters I love to hate.
We come to the great scene where the dead CGI HS is beside the photo of the dead real HS and as the words of the priest mentions resurrection we have HS pop up for the duel.
But outside, we loose the “super cool” effect of drawing the gun. ahhha. First time.
So, rule of cool in screenplay is stronger than church. lol.
@GB, yooooo. I missed that.
Just when he say “ressurection” !!
Then the priest do a speech for JW.lol.
@WE, will check out your blog later!
Prof Cha likes JW ‘coz he is competent and brings in money for the company J-One in which Prof Cha invested in.
Well out of respect for the Mass, the shooting should be outside the church, but for the drama in the show it’s so good that all that loud shooting and falling down takes place in the central aisle while all the congregation see and hear nothing.
LOL JW makes the Sign of the Cross before leaving. Farcical or meaningful… but significant. The prayer for HS continues too so apt… but JW walks out.
@WE the whole thing is bad karma. How truly horrible to have to kill someone that you used to be friends with every day, with nary an opportunity to say ‘I am sorry’. The gun is unexpected at this point which is nicely done. The tension really builds to that point as you expect Jin-Woo to have to clatter around in the isle. And the man falling again to his death as no one in the pews pays the slightest attention. Very effective! And then ‘may he find eternal peace’… so ironic.
3 months of intense gaming.
He help people in the street in his car.
what’s that ??? “cool” cooooooL.
@GB, if he made the sign of cross after shooting, then…
… it’s godly legal. LOL!!
@SD, yes, precisely. I love that shoot in church scene and HS dying again during his memorial service.
Now I laugh that the poor players are non-plussed that someone took out their opponents and stole their points!!!! JW is too much!
@satleddust. YYahhh.
The irony. So good writing. 🙂
He plays the cool boss in the elevator.
Not sure it work well..
@WE I took the shooting of the attackers with the gun as Jin-woo’s way of announcing he was back at the company.
@salteddust, hoppefully you are all here with smart comments because I feel like I miss everything. ^^
@WE @SD, in just the same disposition in which he stole those people’s points by shooting their opponents, he hears the flak about his mental health or lack of or his likely suicide/death LOL. He just refuses to be bothered. There’s an air of fatigue about him and we know why.
Yura is bad, but still a good actress. 😉
@WE, I realise that SJJ likes to have 2 evil characters who may end up working together and then also end up harming each other. This show we have Cha and Yu Ra.
@GB, I have to say that, IMPORTANT.
He didn’t shoot them to get points.
In this kind of game, the more you levelup, the less low level enemy give points.
So, salteddest explanation looks the good one, and of course “rule of cool”.
Yura is able to bring tears at will for the ‘show’ in front of cameras.
Why do the employees look so scared when they share the lift with JW? Coz they were caught gossiping about JW?
It’s quite great that the boss have the best level. He’s the best one to manage this team about making the game better.
@GB, Yes that describes him perfectly, ‘an air of fatigue’, we know from the phone call that Jin-Woo has been gaming practically non-stop though not why, quite yet, and then the video of the wife, the ‘fake’ wife (she does not really care about him, only about herself and her money and her career) and then the non-stop barrage of killing Hyung-seok every day.
@feifei, gossips. everybody say he’s mad. ^^
@WE, yes the rule of cool … sort of like the way cowboys show up firing their weapons to get attention.
It took some time for the alarm to go off and announce Zinu as a new player though!!!
Drink rhum, hear guitar.
But… oooohhh… not a threat… Emma.
Gu Yura removed her sunglasses to show the reporters her tears, she is one great actress.
– Delete Emma, geek.
… really… how can he ask that.
fashion show on emma.
The black sexy dress… The same of one of my characters. ^^
@FF both Yura and the sound of the guitar give me chills LOL.
Wow, JW turned around to shoot but finds it’s not HS, it’s Emma. He forgot that he needs to hear thunder as well before HS pops up.
And now in the office we know that Jin-woo really is not okay. First the pills… eventually the alcohol. I love the alarm going off — you have encountered Zinu!
“we don’t speak each other anymore”.
NO DUDE:
It’s only you.
@GB, without thunder, guitar isn’t enough. Right.
How can the programmers see the weapons that JW is referring to when they are not log in to the game?
@WE, but in the church, we didn’t notice the sounds… the Mass drowned out the other game sounds? Or was there just thunder, the message about an enemy and HS appeared?
I don’t remember the name of the third associate.
This guy is only here to get more and more worried..
… discovering the thruth, slowly, with fright.
@WE I like how mad Jin-woo gets about Emma’s dress and character. It makes the later scene where Hee-joo puts out her sign a bit frightening. I can easily imagine this is a game where most players are male and that Hee-joo will be at risk due to her ‘Emma’ sign.
@FF, I wondered the same. I just assumed that they were all wearing the lens as well while monitoring the game, not that they needed to.
Tons of flashback, explaining why he have to get a good level. So he can just shoot this low level enemy and make him no more a threat.
@SD, I was wondering about the significance of the talk to delete Emma. We find that in the end, the other women got themselves ‘deleted’ from JW’s life but not Emma.
I like the contrast between the Emma of the game and how Hee-joo really acts and dresses, the difference between the fantasy and the real person.
@WE, I noted so many duels in the hospital setting and no one in the hospital notices JW acting weird while he’s there!! He duels everyday.
The actor playing HS must have been tired of falling down dead LOL.
Training scene. Here I’m not sure about a thing:
If a joseon swordman strikes him, does he really dies??
Appreciate the dynamics of this church scene more this second watch. First as a lover of irony…Michael Cha is “killed” again during his own funeral mass as the priest prays for everlasting peace for him, definitely something not available to him at least within confines of the game. We learn that Jin Woo
Is now level 84 and now plays with large, impressive gun! We see his gaunt weariness; a far cry from his healthy confident look of episode 1. Mr. Park’s unhappiness and anger is revealed and we learn he is not one of “the good guys.” Plus other details, Dr. cha ‘s and ex wife’s reactions, significance of Jin Woo’ sign of the cross. Lots of info and movement of storyline in this church scene! Impressive!
@GB, you know, fans of the actors was a bit disapointed that is mean role was that:
a zombi guy, no speak, just slash and die.
Perfect segue from ‘I thought about killing myself every day’ to the roof top scene.
@WE, you mean the Joseon swordsman might really be able to kil JW?
@Lootie, yeah the scene is really good. A bit long. And maybe flashback in it.
@GB, I don’t know. But we see he wasn’t killed.
It’s like he have to train with real danger.
Hi @Lootie Lyn (@LL) You’ve made it!!
Yes, I found the church scene (scenes actually later on too) very important, informative, significant…
The most “strange” thing. ALLY.
Real shit in this situation.
One guy able to see the zombi.
… and we know where it leads later…
One of the best scene of the drama. 🙂
The baby see right away that pf Cha is bad…
… and cry…
@WE, I’m amazed that he wanted hordes of killers coming upon him at the same time!! So much stress!
However maybe it saved time … All those killers just stood around waiting for their turn to be slashed by JW.
And in ‘real life’ Jin-woo would be getting stronger with these constant work-outs ducking and slashing. Even though he probably destroyed his chance of having his leg work better (at least if this was not a drama)>
Such a relief on his face when he’s leveled up to 50 and can get modern weapons.
Once again lightning and thunder and guitar music. Park can’t see HS and thinks JW is hallucinating.
@Lootie — I like your analysis of the significance of the church seen. Spot on!
I pity JW, all he does every day is kill kill kill until he falls asleep. Gosh the guitar music and the sound of the rain again, HS appears again.
Jin Woo looks like he forget Hee Ju or doesn’t want to see her, but…
… in thruth is devoted to find her brother.
And also send fake messages from him, lol.
What will lead to a crazy good crying scene…
… from the goddess of crying, Park Shin Hye.
So now we know for sure that JW is not hallucinating. Secretary Seo sees HS too.
But Park is not sure if JW has gotten better or worse. He’s the guy who’s there to keep things going even when JW is gone.
What’s crazy… the “maybe boyfriend” dare to come too.
This guy is a glue. Crap!!
@WE whenever I see the baby scene I wonder how many shots it takes to get the baby to actually cry.
@FF, I think I’ve been traumatised by this show … I cringe each time I hear the melody Memories of Alhambra on guitar, LOL
@WE, the practically family, hope-to-be boyfriend who never leaves friend zone LOL. I like that later on HJ puts him in his place.
Mr. Park does not seem to get it that if Secretary Seo seeks HS then there are problems with the game…. a bloody dead guy!
@SD, I was wondering the same… what did they do to make the poor child cry like that.
The piano music in full, with the guitar part.
Goosebumps, so beautiful.
@GB, just show him this actor. lol.
As if by chance… guitar workshop is called Emma.
RAIN…
@GB, I know. Funny what one’s mind comes up with — a pinch would have made the baby scream, so what did they do….
@WE, you made me laugh. Poor actor with the face that can scare a baby.
“my love is yooooouuuuuuuuu”.
Are you sure you still don’t like this song with the rain, the meeting, the steps in slow motion??
It’s very compact that SJJ uses the email replies of HJ to tell us what has happened in a year. But although she sounds like she believes she’s writing to SJ, she has her doubts.
I really like the ‘slice of life’ flashbacks told through the emails. Very clever. And a nice break from the bleakness of the early part of this episode — all greens and pastel colors rather than the office gray and sleekness.
It also sets it up as a surprise that Hee-joo figures out that her brother is not writing the emails.
@WE I despise ‘My Love is You’ … sung in that way, in that melody. Too cheesy.
Although @GB I agree her argument fits, because we have seen all of those pensive looks at her phone and the sighs. Very good foreshadowing.
What about “my destiny” from “my love from another star”. LOOOL.
Yup @SD, and now JW himself turns up to check on HJ. She does not recognise him from behind in the dark and in the rain.
Now Park Shin Hye at her best. upset, CRYING.
@WE, I only despised it a bit less than this one. The only cheesy song (that comes to mind) that I like is the one in Healer.
@GB I like the combination of the slow click of his cane and the song. It has a pathos, I agree, but it is followed immediately by Hee-joo’s busyness putting the groceries away and quickly drying her hair and her anger at Jin-woo so I think it really works well.
Healer created you brain damages. 🙂 🙂 🙂
@WE seen from HJ’s point of view, what she says is rational and understandable. She’s been tricked into thinking that all’s well with her brother when it might not be the case. Of course she’s upset… and she’s actually figured out that the game rather than the hostel was what JW was after.
All his platitudes about having warned her he’s not decent as she thinks means nothing actually, since he really did buy/take the hostel under false pretences.
More crying in the next episode.
Here, it was just a taste. ^^
@GB… drama characters have to do bad things, to create… drama. ^^
@SD, in short bits the song is tolerable but I don’t want to have to just listen to it.
Ah @GB. I get it. Too much schlock is too much schlock.
After tonight’s rewatch, @pkml3 will be opening enough Rewatch threads for the next 7 weeks, because she’s going to be traveling a lot and won’t be able to open them for us at the right time.
So don’t be surprised to see the threads way in advance. 🙂
Thanks for the reminder @GB. See you all next week!
@SD, yes, I guess schlock is a good word to describe the song.
I’ve come to the end (after pausing here and there)… thanks for a great rewatch! Come back and add more thoughts if you have any.
See you next week!
See you next week, bye bye!
Thanks for the company.
Goodbye @WE and everyone.
@Lootie Lyn, I’ll still drop by here if you leave comments so go ahead to continue your watch and post!
Thanks for you company too @FF, see you next week!
@GB thanks for thoughtfully offering to drop by! Just want to add a comment re JW’s character progression. During convo with Mr. Park he reveals that he has gained much sympathy for his adversary: comparing the failures Cha constantly incurs during the game to those he had incurred in real life especially with his father Dr. Cha. The ability to empathize is in contrast to his strong negative emotions held earlier. Character growth forged from pain is common theme in many Kdramas, and one that is good for me to be reminded of when I get all wimpy😂
Bye all, see you next week.
Hi @Lootie Lyn,
I generally come by frequently to check email and am interested to read comments on threads I get notifications for.
Character growth is important to me in a more serious drama. If despite the bad decisions followed by the consequences, the mistakes and observing the after-effects, nothing changes in a character, I’ll give up such a show as a lost cause.
Even in the rather farcical (and to many, deplorable) Kokdu, I’m looking to see improvement after his thousand years of death-life. At least for MOTA’s Jin Woo, we only need to consider his learning journey over a year.
I believe he started to change when he began to take Hee Ju’s concerns into consideration. In a sense, he had to put looking for Se Ju first, because he realised that something was really wrong with the game that had a life of its own, and hoped the original developer could solve that issue, but at the same time, he bothered enough about HJ to send those emails.
Yes, he empathised a bit with how HS must have suffered under Cha and when so harshly kicked out of the company. JW, too, was feeling like an outsider, rumoured to be dead or mentally sick, suicidal, a killer and not part of the ‘normal’ world.
In all four respects, (Crazy, Dead, Murderer, Attempted Suicide) the rumour mongers were wrong, but it was partially true that he was no longer only part of our normal world. The virtual world invaded his normal consciousness, because he had taken HS as an enemy instead of as an ally, and so he was forced to duel with him every day. This was a nightmare.
The episode began with Granny snoring in her sleep, and both she and HJ worrying about Se Ju’s non-return, and ends with HJ realising that the happy dream of being rich, in business in Korea and with all her family safe was actually not entirely true, and that she had not been able to wake up from the actual nightmare that she had been deceived for a year, and that her brother was still lost.