I know many viewers assumed that this screenwriter would just gloss over MokHa’s years on the island, and thus, were disappointed with the first episode. As for me, since I observed how she developed the episodes of “Start Up” according to the business principles of start-ups, I thought she had a good reason for not going in depth…just then.

Now, we understand.

The screenwriter had written each episode with a parable of sorts from MokHa’s island years. Instead of business principles, she showed MokHa’s life lessons as applied to the entertainment world. If MokHa were to write a book about her castaway years, it wouldn’t be about survival tips in the wild. Rather, it would be entitled, “All I Really Need to Know, I Learned on the Island.”

The parable in this episode is the seagull’s eggs. MokHa recounted the time when she was desperately without food and had to eat or die.

MH: Unnie, on the deserted island, I had a friend.
RJ: No, you didn’t. It was a deserted island.
MH: I did. It was a seagull. That’s why its name was Gul. I befriended it because I hated eating alone. We shared potatoes every day and bonded. Then, because of a typhoon, I ran out of food. Maybe for ten days, I couldn’t eat anything. I thought was going to die. That’s when I saw that Gull was sitting on some eggs.
RJ: You ate them.
MH: (with steady eyes) No. I didn’t. I’m telling you I’d never stab you in the back! I’d rather starve to death. So I’d rather starve to death. So…I’ll never steal your stage.

Later, after she won the competition, she broke down in tears in a stranger’s restaurant.

MH: There were things that I wasn’t supposed to do in life. Apparently, there were.
Restaurant owner: Goodness, look at you. Why are you crying?
MH: Because I lied. I did eat the seagull’s eggs. But I lied and said I didn’t.

She remembered what she did on the island.

MH: I shouldn’t have done it to a friend. I knew I was betraying it. But I still ate them. I was starving to death. But the seagull can’t understand. Giving an excuse wouldn’t work. It was my one and only friend. But we became enemies. I feel so terrible. That’s why I’m crying.

My comments:

a. Remember this, y’all. The cover-up is worse than the crime. Though the wrongful act is bad enough, the lie or deception to cover it up is more reprehensible.

b. After all these years, MokHa always felt guilty about what she did back in the island. She couldn’t forget and forgive herself for eating the seagull’s eggs.

 

That said, the reason she was in such an emotional distress in the restaurant was because she knew, deep down inside, that she was betraying her friend the seagull ALL OVER AGAIN when she retold the story to RanJoo and portrayed herself as too virtuous to think of touching the eggs, when in fact, she ate the eggs.

By lying to RanJoo to cover up her past action, she betrayed the seagull for the SECOND time. By pretending that she was too honorable to eat the eggs when in truth, she ate the eggs, she proved to herself that she could behave dishonorably and despicably. She was capable of betrayal for her own benefit…and she did it TWICE.

Do you see the cognitive dissonance?

c. Clearly, MokHa lied to RanJoo because she felt she had “no choice.” RanJoo had trust issues, and MokHa wanted to reassure her that she wasn’t going to betray her like MoRae did. But in lying to RanJoo and feeding her the fairy tale about the seagull’s eggs, she confirmed that RanJoo was right. She, too, was capable of betrayal for her own good.

Now, let’s move on from MokHa.

Because this was an emotionally charged episode, I’m sure it escaped many viewers’ attention that the seagull parable applied not only to MokHa, but to the other characters in the story.

Let me point out a few of them.

1. The fake father/stepfather of BoGyeol and WooHak

Do you see it? This isn’t hard to figure out. If you want to test yourself, stop reading here and think about it yourself. Continue reading after you’ve seen the similarity between the stepfather and MokHa’s seagull story.

Ready to continue?

Mr. Lee Uk used to be an honest civil servant. The sash he wore on his chest indicated that he was an icon of “diligence and kindness.” But because of the storm that appeared in his life – the storm in the form of an abused mother with two sons – he had to make a hard choice of metaphorically eating the seagull’s eggs to survive. In short, he betrayed the trust conferred on him by the general public to serve the community with integrity. He failed to report missing people, committed identity theft, and abused his status as civil servant to assist his lover, Mrs. Yang JaeKyung.

Dad: That’s when I found a way. A family had disappeared in my region. They also had two sons. The entire family disappeared so they weren’t reported missing. The boys were around your age, too.
WH: Then, their names…
Dad: Are ours now. Kang Sang doo, Song HaJung, Kang WooHak and Kang BoGeol.
WH: Where are they?
Dad: Who knows? They just vanished into thin air.
WH: What if they returned?
Dad: They’ve been missing for over 20 years now. They probably would’ve shown up by now.
WH: Dad.
Dad: I know. What we did was wrong. But…back then, we had no other choice.

He was like MoKha who didn’t want to eat the seagull’s eggs but had “no other choice.” I’m sure if he had to do it all over again, he would do the same thing.

2. RanJoo

Do you see how the story relates to her, too?

She betrayed the trust of the general public who expected to hear RanJoo singing when she was on stage. She duped them by lip-syncing. She was like MokHa who didn’t want to eat the seagull’s eggs but had no choice. RanJoo lost that golden voice that could belt out high notes, so she stole MokHa’s voice, the metaphorical seagull’s eggs, in order to:

a. survive in show business,
b. stage her comeback, and
c. be relevant once more in the entertainment world.

That’s why she cried in the deserted dressing room. She felt guilty because MokHa’s story hit home.

RJ: (reading the script in the dressing room) For this entire time, someone else has been singing for me on this show.

MokHa’s story persuaded her that if she didn’t confess to the lip-synching, then she was stabbing her number one fan in the back. She wanted to emulate MokHa’s noble act on the island and starve to death rather than do a despicable act like betraying a friend.

RJ: (reading the script on stage) Ahhh. Before that, I have something to apologize to the viewers for.
Emcee: Apologize? What for, may I ask?

In the studio room, BoGyeol’s assistant feared that RanJoo wouldn’t read from the script. But BoGyeol showed unusual confidence in RanJoo delivering the script. He ordered the camera to focus on her.

RJ: For this entire time, someone else has been singing for me on this show.
Audience: Gasp
Emcee: Are you saying you’ve been lip-syncing.
RJ: That’s correct. (bowing) I’m sorry. I did something that you should never do as a singer. I have no excuse. But there’s a voice I’ve been wanting all of you to hear. And the owner of that voice was accidentally stranded on a deserted island 15 years ago. Thankfully, she was recently rescued from that island after 15 years. And her voice has remained the same. However, I couldn’t think of a way for her voice to be heard. That’s why I decided to join this show. Even if it meant I had to lip-synch, I wanted to share her voice with everyone. I’m truly sorry.

My comments:

a. Fortunately for RanJoo, whoever wrote the script for her (I’m guessing it was BoGyeol’s idea) put a positive spin on her scandal. The script saved her face.

And she knew she would have been dumb to reject this lifeline offered to her. As BoGyeol said in the previous episode, “Enough with the lies now. I get you had good intentions and no other choice. But a lie is a lie. If you keep it up, your weakness will grow and you’ll have to stay silent. And eventually, it’ll be out of control.”

BoGyeol gave her a nice exit strategy that cast her as a person with a “good heart.”

b. Remember what BoGyeol told President Lee earlier? President Lee accused him of messing up, saying, “I heard this was your first show. You certainly have a knack for turning an opportunity into a risk.” And BoGyeol replied, “You can turn it back into an opportunity. I’d appreciate your help.”

The word “opportunity” had a double meaning there. It was an opportunity, a HIDDEN opportunity, that BoGyeol crafted specifically for MokHa. That’s why he would “appreciate” any help that President Lee gave. Unknown to President Lee, BoGyeol was enlisting his help for MokHa’s debut.

c. To me, BoGyeol was being Machiavellian. President Lee didn’t know that BoGyeol was using him like a pawn. BoGyeol expected him to succeed in convincing his artist to perform. Without MoRae, the show couldn’t continue. MoRae’s presence was critical to his plan to debut MokHa.

d. He intended RanJoo to make a clean breast of the situation and, more importantly, hand the spotlight over to MokHa. That’s why the script is written like that. He purposely turned what-could-have-been a scandal into a unique opportunity to reveal MokHa to the music world.

And his genius here is that he did it as if everything was COINCIDENTAL and improvised at the last minute. But the fact that he had the background stage pre-arranged to show a blue ocean indicated that he had everything planned out.

Remember what I wrote about Coincidence vs Fate, right? I said that this screenwriter believed in neither. She believed in creating your own way and making your own destiny. And here’s BoGyeol proving that he was making happy coincidences and arranging fate to his end and purpose.

e. BoGyeol understood how entertainment works. He knew that everybody would love the sob story with the underdog plot, and “feel-good” ending. The public would forgive and forget RanJoo’s deception because it was all done for a “good cause.”

It was a win-win for both MokHa and RanJoo. It showed RanJoo in a benevolent light. She became a mentor and a fairy godmother to an unknown artist.

For me, the icing on the cake was when RanJoo went off-script.

RJ: In this competition, I believe there’s only one winner. And it’ll be neither me nor MoRae.
MoRae: (looking at her)
RJ: If you want to meet her, don’t vote for the singer. Please vote for the best voice.

Instantly, BoGyeol’s assistant PD realized what she had done.

Asst PD: She’s so sly. She rattled MoRae and encouraged everyone to vote for her. At this rate, Seo MokHa has a shot to win.

3. MoRae

She, too, stole the “seagull’s eggs.” You know what those eggs are, right? There’s no need for me to discuss them at length.

That’s why she didn’t want to face MokHa in the finals. Deep-down inside, she always felt uneasy – I’d call it guilt – that she robbed the rightful “diva” of her spot in the musical world. At best, she felt like a stand-in for MokHa. At worst, she felt like a usurper of MokHa’s throne. Poor child!

MR: I don’t want Seo MokHa showing herself to the world. That’s why I’m on this stupid show. But now, I’m about to be her sidekick!
Lee: Why do you keep assuming she’ll win? Are you lacking in confidence? This contest is an opportunity for you.
MR: (scoffing) Don’t be ridiculous.
Lee: When MokHa wasn’t around, you always said you felt inferior to her. Now, she’s here. So challenge her and beat her.

4. Lastly, BoGyeol.

The story relates to him, too. Do you see how? It was shown in this episode.

Come back later and I’ll explain. I have a date with the treadmill to get rid of unwanted calories I’m going to regain tomorrow at Thanksgiving dinner. I’m making my own destiny with my weight. 🙂

Link to Seagull’s eggs, part 2 is here: Castaway Diva: Ep 7 On Seagull’s Eggs, part 2