Episode Title: Stop Line ➡️ Starting Line

I think most viewers will just stay focused on the cuteness of the couple and the “feels” this show gives them that they’ll miss the key points of this episode.

So here I’ll try to list them.

A stop line is the white line painted on the road that marks where the driver must stop his vehicle before entering an intersection. I don’t know about your country but here in the US, a stop line is found wherever there’s a traffic signal or a stop sign.

An aside: one of my pet peeves is drivers who do not pull all the way up to the stop line when the traffic light is red. You see, the stop lines at intersections with a traffic signal are equipped with sensors on the ground. When a vehicle stops at the stop line because of a red light, the sensor is triggered, and the traffic light switches from red to green, allowing the vehicle to go. But if the driver doesn’t pull up to the stop line at a traffic light, then the sensor isn’t triggered, and the driver (and everyone behind him) will wait a long time for the light to change. 🤪

In this episode, there are four defined stop lines.

One, the stop line signifies the end of SeungHyo’s swimming career.

Back in high school, SeungHyo (SH) qualified to be one of the trainees for the Olympics. His parents couldn’t be there to watch him win his swim meet, but it was enough that Seok-Ryu (SR) was there to cheer him on. She cheered loudly and wildly enough for two, three, maybe even five people…much to SH’s embarrassment.

Unfortunately, on the way to his first day at Olympic training camp, a car hit him. (Lol. At least it wasn’t a truck of doom, right?) His father, being a medical professional, was there to break the sad news to him when he woke up. He could walk again after rehab, but he couldn’t swim competitively anymore.

That’s the stop line right there.

Naturally, he fell into a depression. And it took SR days (weeks?) to get him out of his dark room where he barricaded himself. SR had to mock him, curse at him, and enrage him in order for him to get the “blues” out of his system.

Lol. I hope the viewers didn’t miss the obvious (at least, to me, it was tiresomely obvious) reference to that adage, “When God closes a door, He opens a window.” People commonly use this expression to encourage somebody down in the dumps to look at his misfortune, roadblock or challenging moment as an unexpected opportunity for growth.

Well, the door and window figured prominently in this scene, and I don’t think it was all coincidental. (Remember the jungle gym in Episode 2? I explained how the director and screenwriter like to use obvious symbolism like that.) SH kept closing his bedroom door, but SR kept on barging into his room. When he finally locked it and hid the key, SR climbed up the window to get inside. SH had no choice but to open the window for her. She started yelling at him and he yelled back. Then, when they calmed down, she threatened to destroy his door with an axe should he lock the door on her again.

And that’s the starting line.

Because his dreams of becoming a swimmer ended, he found his new calling in life, his new love, his future in architecture.

Two, the next stop line is SH’s refusal to take on the retirement home project.

His co-partner wanted him to design a luxury retirement home project. (I can’t be bothered with his name so let’s just designate him as CP.) CP pointed out that this project would solve their money crunch. But SH wasn’t interested in doing it, because he was more interested in rebuilding his high school athletic pool. At the meeting with their prospective clients, he demonstrated his disinterest by being pointedly disagreeable. CP tried to cover up for him, but he was obviously out to sabotage their prospect of getting the project.

But what made SH draw the hard line was the design request. The clients wanted SH to copy previous architectural works, and SH refused. He didn’t want to compromise his name, his integrity, his principles.

Client rep 1: I’d like to mix in some of these designs.
SH: Excuse me?
Client rep 1: As you can see, these are works by renowned international designers. Our potential clients have spent a lot of time overseas before. Their tastes and standards are quite high. So, ordinary domestic designs won’t be able to satisfy them.
SH: So, you’re saying that you don’t trust our capabilities and want us to replicate verified designs, right? Is that what you’re requesting?
CP: (stepping in to stop SH)
Client rep 2: It’s an homage. All artistic creation is a form of imitation. Nothing’s ever really new.
SH: No. This is clearly plagiarism.
Client rep 1: You don’t have to worry about that. Everyone cries about plagiarism lately. But when it’s debated in court, it’s difficult to enforce penalties.

Outside the conference room, CP tried to reason with him. He said that it was easy for them to revise the design once they have project approval. For now, it was critical for them to win the project because they had employees to pay.

SH: …I can’t work with people who have that mindset.
CP: With that kind of attitude, we won’t be able to do anything. We’ll have to deal with all sorts of dirty, disgraceful things. Is that how you’ll act? We built our office on a mountain of debt. We have employees to take care of.

SH argued that he was also thinking of their employees – in particular, their pride as architects – hence he wouldn’t take on this project. Their argument escalated until CP accused him of not wanting to take on the project in the first place because of the mental baggage of his broken dream.

CP: A retirement community worth hundreds of billions and a simple gym renovation! One can’t even compare with the other! You brought personal feelings into work!
SH: Hyung!
CP: That damn pool reminded you of the past! (realizing that he went too far) I mean…SeongHyo…
SH: I have to leave.

That’s the stop line.

The start line came after their junior employee spoke with SH. She reminded SH that he and CP are both on the same side. They should find a way to work together by ironing out their differences because they couldn’t survive without each other.

The start line was their apology. They were going to move forward with a new mindset.

Three, Seok-Ryu’s malaise is another stop line.

She’s like a vehicle stalling at the stop line because the driver doesn’t know where to go, whether she should go straight, left, right, or turn around. She’s metaphorically stopped at the stop line. (Lol. But if we were hypothetically stopped in traffic and I was behind her car, I’d either give a short honk to wake her up from her daydreaming or get out of my car to check if she was alright.)

She observes that everybody around her is doing something productive. Her mother made a hundred rolls of kimbap, and even folded boxes despite her aching wrist. Her brother had turned into a new leaf and found work as a trainer. Her best friend, the medic, was tired after being on duty. And SH was busy with work but had to make time to join her at the comic bookstore. She alone is doing nothing. She’s in a malaise, a slump.

Like SH’s Olympic dream, SeokRyu’s job at Greip was supposedly her dream job.

An aside here: There is a software company in Finland (?) that’s called Greip. But I think the screenwriter/director was trying to pay homage to “Apple” by making SeokRyu work at Greip. Greip = grape.

Now that her dream job ended, she’s finding a hard time looking for that window of opportunity. She thinks that she must look for a job that’s similar to her job at Greip but SH rightly points out that her spark is gone.

She’s asked to give an impromptu talk to high school children by her former teacher who’s proud of her for her accomplishments. Awkwardly, she doesn’t inform her teacher that she no longer works for Greip. The talk goes smoothly until one student asks her what her dream was in high school. She’s stumped for an answer. It seems like all her young life, she simply wanted to make her family proud, and she didn’t really have a dream.

Then, she and SH get into yet another argument. This time, SH begins arguing with her that to return to a job similar to previous job at Greip isn’t the thing for her.

SR: I met with a job recruiter earlier.
SH: Why?
SR: I don’t know. I don’t know how she got my number. But you know how capable and talented I am.
SH: (skeptical) Why did she?

Note that she’s boasting but he isn’t deceived by her fake bravado.

SR: She offered me a few positions. GLO Korea and Serendipity. The conditions were pretty good. It’s not as much as before but the pay is decent, too.
SH: (unconvinced) Really?
SR: It’s similar to the work I did before. I’ll adjust quickly. Great, right?
SH: Do you want to do it?

And that’s when they hit the wall. She’s taking the job because it’s work. He, on the other hand, wants her to work at a job that she really wants.

SH: That’s not right. It’s your work, so you should do what you want.
SR: How can people only do what they want to do?
SH: Why not? Why does everyone compromise with reality? You said you overheated and shut down. You said you wanted to reboot.
SR: Yeah, but…
SH: This is the courage you mustered? Returning to your old life?

Defensively, she asks him why this should bother him. She has a point there. Why is he making a fuss? Why can’t he mind his own business? Why is he sticking his nose into somewhere it doesn’t belong?

SH: You think I don’t know you? When you want to do something your eyes light up and stomp with excitement but I don’t see any of that now.

He says that he just wishes that she’d find her real dream. And naturally, the word “dream” triggers her. After her encounter with the student who unknowingly forced her to realize that she grew up without a dream, she’s overly sensitive when SH mentions it. She begins to yell at him.

SR: Do you think dreams can just be had? Only those who have the luxury to search for them can dream. Those who get the chance to rise again after failure can pursue their dreams. You wouldn’t know. You’ve always lived in a Mediterranean climate. A clear, mild, and perfect environment. Me? Warmth is only momentary. I’m stuck in Siberia most of the time. The winds are biting cold. It snows, rains and hails.

Sigh. This is a dumb misperception that the rich can’t feel misery because they’re wealthy. It’s an offshoot of the misconception that “Money can buy everything.”

SR: (continuing) Do you know what that’s like?
SH: I do know. I’ve had winters like that, too. I thought you’d remember. (walking away)

He’s referring to the crash of his Olympic dreams. Whoops! She realizes her gaffe too late.

The start line begins when they’re at the pool. He’s teaching her to float on her back.

Lol. I shouldn’t tell you about the symbolism here, right? The jungle gym, the door and window in his room, and now the swimming pool. All these places have been chosen to deliver and reinforce a key point. Remember to look for them in future episodes, in case I drop this kdrama. 

SR: I was actually nervous. I wanted to quit because I was exhausted. I wanted to rest and dream of a new life. But…I felt like nothing without my Greip background. Everyone is moving forward, but I’m the only one who’s stopped.

Actually…there’s another one who’s stopped. SH’s mom, the diplomat. SH and his father already asked her when she was moving on to her next assignment, but they didn’t wait to listen for her answer. To me, she’s at the stop line, too.

SH: That’s how I felt after I quit swimming. The start signal had sounded, but I felt like I was standing alone at the starting line.

Note. If you rewatch the competition shown at the beginning of this episode, he had a late start. Everybody had jumped off the dive board, except him. I thought it was an error, actually.

SH: (continuing) I thought to myself, “It’s going to be hard to find a place where I can swim freely again.”
SR: But you found it.
SH: I know. I found it, so why can’t you. I hated going into bathwater, but I’m able to jump back in again.

Then, she asks him if he could swim again, would he still be an architect. And he answered, “Of course.”

SH: What about you? Hypothetically, let’s say you go back to before you quit, if you go back to Greip, will you go back?
SR: No.
SH: One more, let’s say you go back to before your engagement was broken, what would you do?
SR: No. I wouldn’t go back.

She means that she’s starting all over again. She’s going to find her new dream, her new passion.

She suddenly sinks and SH grabs her tighter. He says, “Okay, then.”

Symbolism alert! 🚨

Fourth and last stop line is SH’s feelings for her.

For some reason or another, he balked at confessing his feelings to her back when they were in high school. There’s a story behind that stop line then that hasn’t been revealed.

In the present, after he’s heard SR’s assurance that she definitely ended her attachments, i.e., her employment in the US and her engagement to that ex-fiancé, he’s been given the signal to start his courtship of her.

So there you have the four stop lines and starting lines in this episode. 🙂 Four and half, actually if we count the mystery surrounding SH’s mom’s career hiatus.