I’m going to make a running list of things that stumped ME.
Kindly please don’t come at me with your 1001 questions and give me a headache. Some of the things you asked, you could figure out yourself. Please calm down. –pm3
1. Ep 6. Why did GuWon lose his teleporting skills in the photobooth?
My theory? As I commented to @WEnchanteur in another thread, I believe his power is SIGHT-based. He needed to picture in his mind who he wanted to see and where he wanted to go. (That’s how he and DoHee ended up in the stairwell. He ran up the flight of stairs and could picture it in his mind. Same with the gangsters in the restaurant in Episode 1. He was reading the news so he could make the gangster disappear into the newsprint one by one.)
However, in the photo booth, his eyes were temporarily blinded by the flash when the camera was activated. So he couldn’t see. He could only see DoHee’s face. Lol. So he kissed her.
2. Ep 6. Who was the girl dancing with the sword back in the Joseon period?
It doesn’t take a genius (any veteran drama could get this) to guess that the girl was DoHee in a previous life or reincarnation. She had been a sword dancer, too, like Star Jin. Perhaps that’s the reason his foundation took in Star Jin as resident artist. He was looking for THAT girl in his past, and he thought Star Jin was her.
This theory aligns with the “Wheel of Fortune” theme. There’s a reunion, and an end and beginning, when DoHee and GuWon united in marriage.
Edited to add this: When GuWon woke up from his dream, he heard noises in the kitchen. He walked out and he saw DoHee, eating breakfast.
Lol. Notice the color of DoHee’s robe?
She could have been the pretty swordsman in GuWon’s dream except that she looks like a mess.
That, my friends, is a not-so-subtle hint from the director. A foreshadowing of things to come.
3. Ep 5. Why does Guwon wear the cross around his neck?
What’s so special about it? We don’t know yet.
4. Ep 5. Why GuWon’s book glowed when DoHee was near it?
5. Ep 5. What’s the significance of the Korean minhwa (or folk painting) showing two women dancing?
We can guess now the reason GuWon’s foundation has this minhwa in its collection. It’s because of the female swordsman on the painting. Both he and DoHee were drawn to the same lady.
BTW, the blocking of DoHee and Star Jin isn’t accidental here. DoHee stood on the right to indicate that she was the female swordsman standing on the right of the minhwa.
This one.
The one that GuWon was staring at.
6. Ep 2. What is this? A car key fob, listening device, transmitter, or Samsung phone product placement?
@WEnchanteur, like you, I assumed it was a transmitter, too. However, he slipped it in HIS tote bag. DoHee carried no purse with her. So how did it go from his bag to her apartment?
Hmmm…maybe the director was just giving us a “hint” or a foreshadowing — because the “elephant” conversation didn’t happen till Episode 4.
@birdie007, I like your theory that it was a key fob. It made sense because he was lying about not bringing his car so he could cadge a lift with DoHee instead. And he was talking about a ride when he actually dropped the thing in his bag.
However, I took a second look again, and this gadget is missing key components of a key fob. It didn’t have icons on it, e.g., door open, door close, trunk, etc.
I think, this director did a magician’s sleight of hand here. He made us assume that it was a key fob when actually it was a transmitter or listening device he would use for later.
7. Ep 1. What’s the significance of the rose?
We haven’t forgotten the rose.
8. Ep 1. Who’s that child who dared to confront the devil?
Lol. Don’t tell me that’s another reincarnation of DoHee?! As @Phoenix said, 2023 is the year of reincarnation in kdramas.
Will add more when I see things I find curious.
Yes, but her tot bag goes with her in the appartement? I guess it could ear with enough power to ear out of the bag what happen in the appartement? So my guess is the transmitter is in the bag which is in the appartement.
I used this trick in my own story. But as the device is in the bag, of course the person ends to find it. ahah. 🙂
I forgot to note the timecode, so now it’s nebulous in my mind and I don’t remember how look exactly this thing. I don’t watch this drama so seriously than castaway diva.
You found a few details I didn’t see or forgot (the child ep1 and the rose, lol).
The painting was enough clear but I couldn’t get the idea of Do Hee in the past. There is a flashback scene, but I didn’t recognized her (maybe I was distracted).
Then the two women are ennemies for the same man in the present. I guess it could be same in the past, and previous Do Hee was killed. Then Gu Won lost his memories, so he can’t remember.
I don’t remember if we get an idea of Ga Young history. We have the butler one but not her. We know there is reincarnation in the mix because of the butler. So I’ll suppose Ga Young is older incarnation of the swordwoman who killed the other woman on the picture.
As you list some mysterious details, I add this one:
When Ga Young dance, she hurt herself with her sword, bleed and say the sword is too honed. Then, the butler check the blade with full hand and doesn’t bleed, he says the blade is blunt.
No, @WEnchanteur.
The tote bag is NOT hers. It belongs to SeokHoon. She had no reason to bring it back with her to her apartment because SeokHoon SHOULD have taken it with him when he got dropped off at his office (or wherever he was going).
— Unless….did I miss a scene when DoHee brought HIS tote bag with her into her apartment?
However, if that gadget was indeed a transmitter/listening device (and I’m inclined to go with this theory)
then, that brief shot of SeokHoon dropping it back into his tote bag was most likely a HINT that he would BREAK IN AND ENTER her apartment at a later date to install that transmitter. That’s how he heard her talk about tranquilizing an elephant in Episode 4.
@pm3, oh yes, your last explanation is consistent too. And as you said in your latest article: of course, I was wondering in a flash how many micro-spy are in this flower pot, LOL!!
Dear Packmule3,
My theory for you number 4 is that Do Do Hee now has the tattoo. Let’s say that the demonic part of Gu Won in DoHee “recognized her” so the book shined. She has become the rightful owner of the book. She had the answer to its secrets maybe?
Regarding your Number 5 I agree that Star Jin and Do Do Hee were the two dancers in the minhwa / folk painting.
And the reason the demon Gu Won made that Foundation is because his human self was longing for the girl in the painting. How can he continue to love and make known to the public that female swordman dance until now? GuWon might not remember it, but he was longing for DoHee. That painting matters to him, because it’s a memento of their relationship from his human days.
That’s my thoughts for now… *smiles*
1. On visual leitmotif and color coding: Not just that the sword dancer in his dream is wearing white, but the dream sequence ended / was interrupted before she could turn her face to identify herself
CUT TO: breakfast scene. Here we see a graphic match and continuation of the dream sequence, as Do-Hee with her back to him, turned her face to greet him “Good Morning.”
Also, at her first encounter with him (at blind date) Do-Hee was also wearing white. (interestingly, in the same episode she did an about-face to fish out this same white *stained* blouse from the recycling bin after abandoning it earlier)
2) Yes – the reincarnation trope is staring at us right in the face like an oncoming train.
3) My other mystifying question: is the hobo lady God in disguise, or at least an emissary angel from God’s camp?
She wore a cap that says “GOOD” except one of the ‘o’ is faded out, making that word “God” (then the shot pulls out to a MCU of her face and she says: “Good times are excruciatingly short.”
I take it to mean (possibly) that the “good times” — his past 200 years of a perfect life, eternal youth, super powers are fast expiring. Instead the “God times” era is here, and his days of reckoning are near.
I dunno. Would love to see more of her cameo though!
The little girl in Joseon times:
I think that little girl (also in white) grows up to be the sword dancer clad in white too (namely, Doo-Hee in Joseon times) whilst Gu-Won remains eternally youthful.
Why I posit it is Doo-Hee’s reincarnation:
(i) He stooped down to the child’s eye level, then handed her a wooden CROSS with his RIGHT hand (with the longer vertical bar facing himself: the exact same configuration as the present day wrist tattoo).
(ii) Also, note he pulls it back once when the little girl reaches for it, smiles then gives the cross to her. It foreshadows exactly the same tussle the present day OTP has over the transfer of the cross tattoo and its powers (to Do-Hee’s RIGHT hand).
@ENC, you’ve found some interesting things!
Yes, the scene where they fish for the blouse. It should be here for a reason.
About the hobo “god” woman:
The immediate sense is that they’re having a good time in the car.
But your interpretation is consistent.
For God, 200 years is a short time.
Here’s one more detail in line with your interpretation.
Ep03 – 04:59 – Police station.
The “god” hobo woman steals a cup of coffee!
She tells Gu Won: “Your life’s hanging by a thread. You could die, in some insignificant way”.
The cup of coffee (instant coffee in a plastic cup) correlates with this scene…..
Ep05 – 27:53 – Company cafeteria.
Gu Won takes a cup of instant coffee and doesn’t like it.
+ dialogue about working in a company.
And at the end of the scene, he finishes drinking his coffee anyway.
When he’s called in like any other employee.
This is his new life since he no longer has his powers.
The end of 200 years of dream life.
Consistent writing making one small detail resonnates two episodes later. 😉
I was looking a bit in the videos.
About the strange/mysterious montage Ep02.
I find it more sens now.
That seems to be Do Hee’s enemies list.
Except Mrs Ju?
55:58 – Montage begins.
(I’m including these first scenes for simplicity’s sake)
57:35 – Sword dance begins.
59:04 – Seok Hoon looks at a company balance sheet.
Looking ominous, he mimes a hangman’s noose with his tie.
The balance sheet make me think about the financial misappropriations.
Oh!! More good stuff.
Ep02
28:52 – In the car, Do Hee ties Seok Hoon’s tie. And is unable to tie a proper knot.
Three things:
– Tying a man’s tie is “putting a rope around his neck” (an expression in my country that means marrying him). But I suppose the symbolism of the tie knot is also used in other countries to say that. So, foreshadowing that she won’t marry him.
– This tie knot resonates with the tie in the montage later on.
– Do Hee talks about the company’s insider trading. (reference to the balance sheet)
The little girl in Joseon times:
I think that little girl (also in white) grows up to be the sword dancer clad in white too (namely, Doo-Hee in Joseon times) whilst Gu-Won remains eternally youthful.
Why I posit it is Doo-Hee’s reincarnation:
(i) He stooped down to the child’s eye level, then handed her a wooden CROSS with his RIGHT hand (with the longer vertical bar facing himself: the exact same configuration as the present day wrist tattoo).
(ii) Also, note he pulls it back once when the little girl reaches for it, smiles then gives the cross to her. It foreshadows exactly the same tussle the present day OTP has over the transfer of the cross tattoo and its powers (to Do-Hee’s RIGHT hand).
@WE: yes yes I noticed that too about SH and his black tie!
Appropriately the title of that episode is “Everyone has a demon in their heart”
— so that montage is really a suspects parade in shorthand for the viewers from the get-go. and interestingly, Seok Hoon is included too
— He did a Hangman’s Noose with his black tie (which I think beyond its obvious malevolent and morbid connotation, is also a card in the Tarot pack)
— So Do_hee not being able to “tie his knot” in the car actually foreshadows their failure to become a married couple / her refusal of his proposal
— Irony: Gu-Won is not included in this suspects list. Cos, well the demon is not hidden in his heart. He is IT. This is full disclosure in BOLD PRINT. I thought it interesting as well how taken aback he is by the sheer hypocrisy at the funeral.