@BethB said,

Also—speaking of meta: the episode with the children’s author was very meta in that the scenes mostly went backwards, like the book idea she described to the FL.

Yes, in a way it’s meta.

I think each episode has a distinctive approach to the story. It’s not only the destination and the featured food that vary with each episode, it’s also the director’s creative choice of presenting the story.

Here in this episode, I think flashback is the central point. Whereas in Ep 3 Meta-Romance, the film leader with the countdown was the first thing the audience saw, the current time is the first thing the audience saw in this episode.

It’s Monday 5:20pm. It’s after school. Park HaKyung is walking down an empty hallway when she spots a group of students dancing to hiphop music. She quickly looks around to see if anybody’s there, then starts to copy the moves. Only when the dance routine is done and loud cheering from the rooftop is heard, does she realize that she’s being watched.

Cue the opening credits of the drama. After the introduction, the flashback begins.

It’s Saturday 11:00pm.

“The Dancing Kangaroo,” a book she was searching for in a bookshop in Busan, is displayed on her shelf. She appears awestruck to have the book on her bookcase and she dances in celebration.

This is the first of many flashbacks in this episode.

As we all know, a flashback is a break in the continuity of the story to explain something that’s happening in the present by jumping back into the past. Since HaKyung was caught on Monday doing something out of the ordinary, there’s a need for the viewers to understand her peculiar behavior by going back in time to see the cause of the change in her.

The audience must go back further in time than late Saturday evening to explain her atypical behavior.

It’s Saturday 6:30pm at Daejeon.

She’s in a planetarium where an astronomer/tour guide is presenting the constellations.

Astronomer: Let’s learn about some constellations. This shows the night sky of a city. (It’s pitch dark.) Well, do you see any stars sparking? They are hard to see. That’s because the city lights outshine the starry sky. Now, let’s look up at the sky in the countryside. (shows stars) What do you see now? There are way more stars now, right? Do you notice this W-shape? This is the famous Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia is Princess Andromeda’s mother. You heard of Andromeda, right? When you’re spaced out, where does your mind wander off to? Yes, “Andromeda.” That’s what we say.

I think there’s a Korean pun there. But since I’m not versed in Korean puns, my guess would be a stab in the dark.

Astronomer: Andromeda is quite a long distance away. It’s about 2.5 million light-years away. That means what we see right now is light from 2.5 million years ago.

And HaKyung glances at the old lady beside her.

We get our first glimpse of the cause and inspiration of HaKyung’s change: the old lady. At first, I thought she was with her mother. Their posing behind the parent-and-child astronomers’ outfit reinforced that idea.

If we’re doing a parallel between the stars and the characters, this old lady is comparable to the “famous Cassiopeia” who’s “Princess Andromeda’s mother,” and HaKyung is none other than “Princess Andromeda.” For one, she wanders, literally, on her one day off.

And for another, her nature and personality (i.e., the “light” that people are seeing now in her) were formed long ago, back when she was still a teen. She reveals how much influence “Cassiopeia” had on her as a teenager.

HK: I did find your work remarkable.
Cartoonist: Do you really think so.
HK: And it has played a great part in making me who I am today.

Cartoonist: Is that good or bad?
HK: When I was younger, there were times when I felt alone. The world didn’t seem to understand me, and I felt so lonesome. That drove me crazy at times. But you were there for me.

Flashback to when she hurried home from school to read her books.

Cartoonist: Your books gave me so much comfort.
HK: (smiling)
Cartoonist: I’m honored.
HK: And so, I’ll wait for your next work.

This scene is poignant. HaKyung encourages the cartoonist who’s been feeling her old age. The cartoonist senses that time is fleeting, and her worth has waned. I like the circularity in their relationship: what comes around goes around. The cartoonist was there to uplift HaKyung when she was young, and now HaKyung is repaying her service but cheering her up in her old age.

Sigh. If had time, I would have liked to list down all the flashbacks and dwell more on their meaning. But I promised to keep this review short, so I’ll wrap up with these thoughts –

For me, the flashbacks, or to be precise, the ACCUMULATION of flashbacks, is integral to the plot. It made me realize that the present emotional state of HaKyung, i.e., happy, uninhibited, dancing without a care in the world, was a result of a SERIES of coincidental, and fortuitous accidents.

For example, she didn’t plan to go to Daejeon, but she missed her train and saw the cat which made her get off at the Daejeon stop. She didn’t plan to meet with the cartoonist, but lunch was served for two people and the old lady was by herself in line, too. She didn’t plan to search for “The Dancing Kangaroo,” but she was invited to the old lady’s home and was offered the book as a gift. She didn’t plan to visit the planetarium, but she had nothing lined up for her visit to Daejeon and, again, she was invited to go with the old lady. She didn’t plan to dance, but everybody was dancing and, more importantly, the words of “The Dancing Kangaroo” were engraved on her mind.

Its famous words: “Dance. I want you to keep dancing. You can grow in good time only when you’re up dancing.” So dance she did.

Hence, to me, these flashbacks were extremely useful in demonstrating the serendipity of her “one day off.” From flashback to flashback, I was shown how the stars were aligned for her to meet the cartoonist on that day.

See the stars in the background? The stars are a symbol in this episode.

I thought ending their day at the planetarium was such a great metaphor. Random things happened to bring “Princess Andromeda” to her idol and mother figure because their encounter had been written in the stars all along. 🙂