Episode title: The Savior of Destruction

The title is an oxymoron. How can someone be considered a savior and protector when he wreaks destruction? To save and protect is the opposite of to destroy and ruin. But oh well…we get who the title refers to.

1. It’s Guwon.

His name means “salvation” and DoHee regards him as her savior. His dreams, however, reveal that he hadn’t been her savior in the past.

It begins when he declares himself in love with Wolsim (or the Joseon version of DoHee). If he expects her to rejoice in his confession – far from it. She rejects him outright.

GW: I love you, Wolsim. I thought that you felt the same way.
DH: It’s time to wake up from this dream. The most foolish human emotion is love.
GW: I don’t mean this lightly. I would like to marry you.
DH: We can’t get married. Given my class, I can be your concubine at best.
GW: Let’s elope. If we run away —
DH: We can’t run away from the world forever. As long as the world remains the same, so will our fate.

And then DoHee recounts what happened to her friend in Hanyang. The friend had been in a romantic liaison with a nobleman, but she committed suicide. From that experience, DoHee learned that the class difference is too big of a hurdle.

DH: Contrary to popular belief, love can’t save a person. It only weakens us and drags us into the depths of misery.

Unfazed, GuWon vows to make her change her mind.

GW: I’ll show you that love can save a person. If we must sink into the depths of history, I’d gladly do so with you.

Ahhh. The idealism of youth!

GuWon becomes acquainted with Catholicism. I must point this out, though. He dabbles in the faith as if it was a new ideology. There’s a clear difference between faith and ideology. I’ll explain in a bit.

He excitedly tells Wolsim/DoHee about Christianity.

GW: I found something incredible!

He produces the book “Seven Virtues and Vices of Catholicism.” Lol. That should have been a red flag for us, Catholics. Instead of the Bible, which we Catholics consider the Word of God, it’s a treatise on the religion that entices him to the faith. He believes in the religion, not because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, but because it presents a worldview that’s more accepting and tolerant than Confucian philosophy. Do you get it?

GW: This is Western learning, isn’t it?
DH: That’s right. This book says that all humans are born equal. Isn’t that amazing? Here, take a look.

Tsk tsk tsk. To him, what’s incredible about Catholicism is that it teaches that humans are born equal. No. What’s incredible about our faith is that “Christ has died. Christ is risen. And Christ will come again.” We acclaim it at every mass. It’s the “mysterium fidei” or mystery of our faith.

Then GuWon and DoHee begin attending congregation. They read books — which again isn’t the Bible, mind you – but books expounding on the doctrines and practices of Catholicism. They think that converting to Catholic will solve their problem. They naively assume that switching from Confucianism to Christianity will somehow miraculously transform their world. To me, this is like imagining that repainting the dark walls of a WINDOWLESS room with white paint will give them a SUNLIT room.

In a voiceover, GuWon explains, “We were in love, but we had been struck by the class barrier. To us, the new learning that spoke of equality seemed like salvation.”

Sorry! The Christian faith doesn’t work that way. He’s conflating faith with ideology.

GW: (reading more textbook, NOT the Bible) “The Lord is the ancestor of all beings and the creator of all things. Therefore, all descendants of the Lord may protect themselves by relying on his Love.”
DH: If we all are equal as the Lord’s children, shouldn’t we all speak the same way regardless of class?
GW: That’s right.
DH: Yi-Sun-ah.
GW: Say that again.
DH: (practicing) Seo YiSun, you little brat!
GW: Who knew being talked down to would feel so good.
DH: I hope this will spread throughout Joseon. Then everyone will be addressed by their first name and treated with respect.

Facepalm emoji here. The teachings of Christ have been reduced to an etiquette book on proper address and manners.

Now, let me stop here to discuss this, because there’s lot of viewers who won’t question this or will accept what they watch in this kdrama as gospel truth.

I totally get GuWon and DoHee’s fascination with their newfound religion. Compared to Confucianism and its strict emphasis on societal order and family hierarchy, the Christian perspective is very liberating. We’re all children of God; we’re all brothers and sisters in Christ.

However, they don’t get that the Catholic faith isn’t a political theory. They approach it as if it was a instruction on how to govern and reorganize the secular world and turn it into an earthly paradise. No. Christianity isn’t like communism, fascism, Marxism, socialism, capitalism, and the other ideologies.

What differentiates the Christian faith from a political school of thought is that at the heart of it is “the encounter with an event, a person.” It’s intrinsically a personal relationship with God and his only Son, Jesus.

I’ll have to quote the words of the late Pope Benedict XVI, a man whom I admired greatly.

“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us”.

We have come to believe in God’s love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, [emphasis added] which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Saint John’s Gospel describes that event in these words: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should … have eternal life” (3:16).

Source: “Deus caritas est.” December 25, 2005, the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord.

The way I see it, once we reduce Jesus into a theory or a narrative on…say, how to live with our neighbors, how to stop climate change, or how to invest our money…then it becomes an ideology. I hope you all get this.

To continue –

GW: When that day comes, we’ll be able to get married.
DH: When do you think that day will come?
GW: Wolsim. I’d like to pass the state examination. Rather than waiting for the world to change, I’d like to change it myself.
DH: (smiles approvingly at him)

In retrospect, GuWon says, “Perhaps we believe din each other more than anything. We were quickly swept up by the fragile yet perilous belief that we could be happy together and infected each other with the conviction. Little did we know the dire consequences that awaited us.”

Before he leaves for Hanyang, he gives her a cross to wear around her neck.

BTW, do you know what the difference is between a cross and a crucifix? A crucifix is a cross with Jesus nailed on to it. In Catholic churches, there’s a crucifix hanging at the altar, not a cross, as a reminder that Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

GW: I’ll come back safely and marry you. The last thing I see before I die will be your face.
DH: (smiles)
GW: (handing her the cross) Something to remember me by while I’m away.

He puts it around her neck.

Whoopsie! This tells me that he doesn’t know the significance of the cross. Wearing a cross is a reminder to bear life’s burdens like Jesus did and to share in His suffering. Jesus carried his own cross to Golgotha where He was then crucified. By tying the necklace around DoHee’s neck, GuWoon marks her as a Catholic. She bears the mark of Christ. That’s how she’ll be identified as a follower of the religion and consequently, martyred for her faith.

DH: I’ll never remove it until you come back. Please don’t forget me.
GW: I would rather forget myself than forget you.

This moment reminds me of the Old Couple promising not to forget each other even after death.

To cut a long story short, she’s killed in the purge of Catholics (historically, this is called SinYu Persecution), and he goes on a rampage and kills off everyone attending her public execution. He commits suicide and so his parting words to her became prophetic. The last thing he did see before he died was her face.

But before he dies, he vows to separate himself from God forever, saying “If heaven is where God dwells, I refuse to go there.”

After this dream revelation, GuWon realizes that he’s the “Savior of Destruction.”

GW: I killed you. My faith caused her death.

I guess he’s forgotten what he told DoHee when she blamed herself for her parents’ death. Back then, he said, “Humans tend to blame themselves when misfortunes strike their loved ones.”

Though it’s admirable of him to take responsibility, in this case, he didn’t kill her. Nor was it his religion that caused her death. It’s other human beings who killed her. Their fear, animosity, and distrust toward the new religion spreading through the land caused her death.

2. The confrontation between Guwon and the faux god

Nope. Nice try, screenwriter. She’s nothing like the Christian God. She’s more like an amalgamation of Korean folklore, shamanism, Confucian, Buddhist, and Christian deities. She’s grotesque.

Faker: So you unlocked your memories.
GW: I did. I killed myself so I wouldn’t end up where you were. But you turned me into a demon.
Faker: I needed a worker. Not just in heaven but also in hell. When your grudge against humans met the needs of God, a demon was born.

This is so wrong in many levels I’m getting a headache just thinking of it. Let me rip it in three parts; I must finish this report before bedtime.

a. God doesn’t need “workers.” He’s omnipotent. He has unlimited powers. He can do anything He wants, without requiring mortal help. Duh.

b. God doesn’t WANT anybody to go to hell.

What the hell is wrong with this screenwriter?? Doesn’t he do his research? There are at least three parables which highlight God’s infinite love and mercy for sinners.

One, the parable of the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep (aka the sinner). Leaving his 99 sheep, he searches high and low for the ONE lost sheep.

Two, the parable of the woman who looks for the lost coin (aka the sinner). Although she still has 9 silver coins left, she lights a lamp and sweeps the house and looks for that one lost coin.

Three, the famous parable of the father and the prodigal son (aka the sinner). The son asks for his inheritance even before his father is dead, then squanders all the money. When he can no longer survive a life of destitution, he decides to return to his father’s house to ask for forgiveness. Guess what his father does? Instead of slamming the door on this ungrateful son, the father runs out to meet him, hugs him, and orders a feast to celebrate his return. Why? “Because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.”

See what I mean? God does not behave despicably like this faux goddess. This faux goddess rejoices in GuWon’s downfall and turns him into an instrument of evil for her use.

c. Where’s the love? The Christian God is about love. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Seriously, this.

GW: How could you reward my faith with such a tragic death?
Faker: Faith is an inherently dangerous thing. Perhaps more dangerous than anything else.

No again.

This screenwriter strikes out each time here.

Do you remember that often quoted passage about love? It begins with, “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous….” Well right before that famous passage, it says this,

“If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. [emphasis added] If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

Additionally, the ending of that passage goes like this, “So faith, hope, love remain, these three. But the greatest of these is love.”

This faker is so wrong about God that if I were God, I’d sue her for defamation hit her with a thousand lighting bolts for blasphemy. Lol.

GW: Don’t you even feel guilty? How can you not feel guilty when even lowly humans can?
Faker: Who are you so angry with, me or yourself? Or could it be because of your fear of fate repeating itself. That you’ll end up making her suffer again?
GW: What are you talking about?
Faker: As I said, fate is bound to repeat itself. That must be why your tattoo transferred. That got you two entangled so that the misfortune could strike again.

I’m calling BS on this as well.

No, the Christian God doesn’t wish evil upon humans.
No, I said this already. Catholics do NOT believe in fate. We believe that when God created us, He gave us the gift of free will. We are not controlled by fate; we make our own destiny and pray that His divine salvation for us will be fulfilled.
No, our God isn’t perverse and malicious like this one. She abandons GuWon to his fate and gloats that he’s about to endure hardship all over again. We believe that when God leads us through painful and difficult times, He’ll always be by our side.

GW: Shut up!

He pounds the table with his fist and rose petals burst out.

Faker: It’s a fate you created. You’re simply paying for what you’ve done.

Ha! I don’t where the screenwriter got this notion of god, but definitely, not from us, Catholics.

For us, God is love. And this is love, from Corinthians 13.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

3. On Noh DoGyeong

I have to mention him. It’s only after his confrontation with his mother, that I became aware of the fact that, in his own way, he too is a savior of destruction.

DG: I saved the world. I shed blood for all of you.
Mother: DoGyeong. Hang in there a little longer and your dad willing et you out of here. So take your medicine regularly. And take care of —
DG: (snickering) You knew everything, didn’t you. You knew everything…but turned a blind eye. You only care about yourself.
Mother: DoGyeong.
DG: I took the bullet for you, Mother. I protected you. You’re the real evil one.
Mother: (swallowing) I’ve been good all my life. That’s why I’m not being punished.
DG: Then me? What about me? What did I do wrong?
Mother: You disobeyed your father. You didn’t live the way he wanted. That’s why you’re being punished. You deserve it. It’s your fault.
DG: (sobbing)

He loses it and has to be dragged out by the prison guards. His last words to his mother, “It’s your turn now.”

He’s a savior of destruction. Meaning, he protected his mother from his father’s destructive ways. Sukmin took out his anger and frustration on his son, instead of his wife.

4. GuWon’s and Madam Ju’s encounter

At this point, I’m too tired to care. I’m sure the screenwriter has something up his sleeve and aims to astonish us. Whatever.