Where the Writing is Extra Good: the Twists
The twisted-ness of Min is phenomenal. He is one of the smartest villains who uses the emotional attachments of pawns and their sense of justice against them. He deliberately chooses Cha to be on his side as his lawyer so that no matter what, Cha cannot do what his heart wants, ie to take HS’s side. If Cha loses the case, he is a bad lawyer who did not try his best, in order to be loyal to HS. When Cha wins the case, he loses HS.

Similarly, Min is able to put SH in a dilemma. He provokes SH to be violent against him while he pretends to be innocent of any provocation, and then sets up a situation where whether he is killed or not, SH and HS would suffer. If he died (and his life seems cheap to him!) at SH’s hands, HS would be miserable that SH had become a murderer in order to protect her. The guilt would eat her up. If Min killed SH, then HS would grieve and also feel burdened that SH had sacrificed himself to save her, plus she would be continually afraid for her own life.

In the current trial, Min had set it up so that he could still remain alive to hound HS later, while SH would likely be found guilty and be jailed as a murderer. If ever the amnesia trope was used well, it was in this show. SH’s amnesia was such a bonus for Min. Not only could SH not be sure that he is not the killer, but he had lost his ability to read minds.

From being a rather cocky character who rubbed his rivals the wrong way, he had become a helpless kid in need of support. His frenemy Chung Gi came to know him better by reading his cheesy diary entries to him, and HS who might have avoided him a lot more if he could still read her mind, was willing to take him in again.

I was reading my script, around episode 20 and fixing few typos. Even if it comes from a complete rewriting, I could see it wasn’t as good quality as around episode 40. The fact is I made progress between the two times. In particular in some scenes about Point of View. And I said to myself I would need to edit again here or there about that (among other tips). Good screenwriting teachers say any scene has a point of view. Can be the one of a character, can be switching who during a scene. And so, I found this in Park Hye Ryun screenplay Ep11 here, about POW:

_________________________________________________________
#07. COURTHOUSE HALLWAY (N)

Kwan-Woo sits on the second-floor stairs, on the phone with Yoo-Chang.

KWAN-WOO: Yes, the jurors are deliberating now. Where are you, Yoo-Chang?
YOO-CHANG: (E) I’m in a car heading to Seoul.
KWAN-WOO: Nothing from Mun Sung-Nam, then?
YOO-CHANG: (E) No. I waited, but… she didn’t come out.
KWAN-WOO: (disappointed) Got it. See you tomorrow. (hangs)

Kwan-Woo sits, lost in thought, when Hye-Sung walks below. He stands to approach her, but Do-Yeon, following Hye-Sung, grabs her. Kwan-Woo pauses.

DO-YEON: Jang Hye-Sung.
HYE-SUNG: (turns) …Huh? What?
DO-YEON: (not accusing, genuinely frustrated) Let me ask. Don’t you feel sorry for your mother?
HYE-SUNG: No. Why?
DO-YEON: Your argument earlier, it’s the same logic Attorney Cha used in last year’s Min Joon-Kook case. You know that?
HYE-SUNG: (calmly) I know.
KWAN-WOO: !
DO-YEON: So you’re saying Attorney Cha was right back then? That logic freed the person who killed your mother?
HYE-SUNG: (removes Do-Yeon’s hand) Yeah. I think Cha… (struggling but firm) did his job as a lawyer.
KWAN-WOO: !!
DO-YEON: (not taunting, genuinely angry) I really pity your mother. If she knew you were doing this, how heartbroken she’d be in the afterlife…
HYE-SUNG: (tears welling, defiant) No. She’d say I’m right. That I’m doing well now…
KWAN-WOO: (moved) …
DO-YEON: I don’t think so…
HYE-SUNG: (cutting in, firm) She’s my mother! I know her best. She’d definitely say I did well! (walks off)
KWAN-WOO: (tears of gratitude) …

_________________________________________________________
#08. RESTROOM (N)

Hye-Sung washes her hands, trying to hold back tears, but they keep flowing.

HYE-SUNG: (gritting teeth, holding tears) Mom. I’m right, aren’t I? I did well, right?

Finally, Hye-Sung grips the sink and sobs, breaking down.

_________________________________________________________
#09. RESTROOM ENTRANCE (N)

Kwan-Woo hears Hye-Sung’s sobs from the restroom entrance.
Guilt and gratitude bring tears to his eyes too.

——————————————–

It’s not obvious because the scene is an argument Do-Yeon + Hye-Sung. But scene #9 gives confirmation to me. I understand this as Kwan-Woo point of view. He witness the scene, and it impacts him. We can see multiple shots on his face, as it’s a trick Korean screenplay can do much better than western screenplay. See the blank dialog lines, with just expressions from him. It’s also a trick I call “witness by proxy”. Kwan-Woo is the proxy for audience. He witness the scene (of course we see the scene too), but we react by proxy according the way he reacts to it.

Follow the scene with hearthbreaking sobs from Hye-Sung in the bathroom. But there too, we find out we are not alone to see (or hear) the scene. Last, Kwan-Woo is again our proxy. You can sometimes find this way to do in many scenes of kdramas. Audience could be sad when a character is crying, but I find there is even more emotion when another character witness the crying, and is also moved. It’s like it amplify everything because as witness too, audience go in the boots of the proxy.

Where the Script is Extra Good – The Irony
I loved all the irony that had been set up in advance in earlier episodes and which played out masterfully in that trial of SH:

– Cha who believed Min’s lies in the past and who was instrumental in getting Min off by arguing that there was doubt as to his guilt,… is the one now to believe that Min could have faked his death.

– Hye Sung who deplored the law that enabled Min to escape imprisonment after killing her mother, now embraces the same law to save SH. The writing of her argument, and her emotional beats were amazing. I liked the simple analogy of the 80% completed puzzle of the elephant and how on point it was.

– The conversation between HS and DY showed that there is still a stark difference in their way of thinking. HS has turned 180 degrees in deciding that Cha had made the right decision as a lawyer to get Min off the hook. Choosing the right way, even at personal cost, was what her Mum would have wanted. HS was right to think her mum would have been proud that HS had finally understood and had chosen to be a ‘real’ lawyer. Having Cha witness that conversation was a great short cut way for him to know that he might still have a chance with HS.

– [SPOILER]
Ex-judge Seo is complicit in his silence, because he knows that in Hwang Dal Joong’s case, Hwang’s wife had cut off her own hand and was alive. This would have strengthened the case for SH’s innocence. Hwang had from the beginning not wanted to jeopardise his own standing as a judge and had not revealed that his ruling against Hwang Dal Joong had been wrong. He had, unlike HS and Mum, chosen NOT to suffer personal cost for what was right and just. As a result, Hwang Dal Joong was stuck in jail for his life although he was innocent.

– Writer Park adds the twist that just as SH has come to realise that his gratitude towards HS includes admiration and a strong liking for her, he also finds out that Cha is hoping to start dating HS after winning SH’s case. So much irony because of course SH wants to be innocent, but he does not want to lose HS at the same time.

@WE
I was hoping that by now we’d have news on Signal 2. However I see that the date in MDL says 2026.

If we are on a Park Hye Run watching spree, then the next show we can consider is While You were Sleeping. What do you think?

@GB, I gladly rewatch anything Park Hye Ryun does. Pinnochio is also a good one.
About other dramas, we already had a Start-up rewatch. While you were sleeping is very popular and still today the favorite drama of many people. Episode 1 is perfect. And I never rewatched it fully (I only rewatched 5 first episodes). So it’s nice for me. +It still have high-concept in it. Even if it’s not used in a so intense way like SJJ does, I remember some cool ideas about the high-concept. So it’s in line with all the fantasy/Scifi stuff we often rewatch.

@WE Okie dokie, When You Were Sleeping will likely be our NEXT REWATCH DRAMA!!!

https://mydramalist.com/21576-while-you-were-sleeping

So everyone, if you’ve other suggestions, please start listing them on this thread. In the meantime, we can also start rewatching WYWS. It was a good watch for me!

Hi @MM! We need to find the thread where @WE left the link for us to the script. You might try and go back about 4-5 episodes??? It’s a great read. I only read bits and pieces but the show really plays out as written… 98% I’d say.

As for Min being dead, it was mere speculation on the part of everyone except HS and possibly Cha. No proof could be found of course.

Let’s start NOW!!!

Oh yes, there was a precedent in that Hwang Dal Joong got convicted based on nothing but speculation and the hand of his wife (in the script it was a finger?) But anyway, Lawyer Shin feels bad til the present day that he never succeeded in getting him a shorter sentence.

Hi SD.
I’ve got a grokAI answer about the case, but I’ll post that after the rewatch.

What I mean is how did they charge him with murder in the first place?

Hi @FF! We missed you! I got all excited over this episode and have more stuff to post a bit later. 🙂

I think the judge accept the change of the defense because he feels guilty to have sentenced Min to be free in the previous trial.

@WE, yes that’s possible. From the script I see that all the judges really wanted SH to be found innocent. They were afraid that the jury would decide that he was guilty. With a 5-4 vote, the judge was able to make the call ie give the final verdict without upsetting the jury.

@MM, I didn’t hear that part about reasonable doubt from DY. I have to check the script later.

Hi FF.
However we are just at 10 minutes. 😉

At 13 minutes we start the speech by HS that I love and mentioned above. The script here was so good.

And the music that accompanies HS’s speech… from softly… slowly it builds up. Getting more evident and clear as she speaks.

The next time the music accompanies the speech so well, rising with the mood… is when Judge Kong Sook gives the verdict.

I don’t watch a lot of legal dramas, but I like them. All the speechs are that good in those kind of dramas ?

@MM, if people agree, I would be delighted to rewatch WYWS. Plus, there is my little darling Kim So-Huyn in one of my favorite role from her, even if she’s just a support character.

I like how HS is confident that her mum will think that she and Kuan Woo are both doing the right thing according to the principles of the law even though she is feeling the pain from the law cutting both ways.

@FF, HS’s Mum had told her that HS made the right decisions and had faith in her. So I guess she imbibed that from her mum’s perspective.

The bathroom scene would be usefull for many screenwriters about how it’s concise on script but effective (and a bit longer) on screen.
The director added a last shot on HS (not in the script), what is a simple and fast way to enhance the writing.

@GB, I think that speech is wonderful also. So much more effective given by the victim herself than by any other person. And also effective in showing HS’s growth in understanding.

It does not seem right to me that DH’s arguement be accepted by the judges. It is emotionally manipulative.

@SD, yes, that’s true. It shows how HS has grown as a person and a lawyer. At this stage she is still not wearing her lawyer badge.

Oh, here we are in the shoes of the judge, about to fall of emotion (while if we were anguish about the verdict, he knew it though, lol).

@GB Just watching HS’s closing arguement. Yes, very ironic that now she is arguing for reasonable doubt. The puzzle analogy is apt.

yes the music was so on point.

@WE, we find out in SH’s dream, how he came to lose his memory and end up with that ‘uncle’ on the farm.

And now we find that the teeth-shaped post-it note pad has come to good use with HS giving a string of advice stuck to his fridge to SH as the adult mentoring the kid. She tells him not to contact her though, but he will follow all her advice except 2 post-it notes.

The episode is so dense, so much has happened and we’re only half way through. In preparation for the next twists ahead, we are shown that Hwang Dal Jung has a tumour in his brain and has not long to live.

Kuan Woo is revitalized after winning SH’s case. He found his motivation again. The investigator gives a new lead to Kuan Woo.

@FF Later on … Cha Kwan Woo pushes his way into the prosecutor’s office to start a search for Min as criminal who had faked his death. This is based on what Soo Chang reported.

@GB, yes SH restarts and Kuan Woo too restarts.

I need some more caffeine!

@FF, I sort of pity Cha. He almost had a chance with HS but then SH crept into her heart and never left.

Violent Korean public, physically attacking the public defender. Is it added to mock the judicial system?

@FF, I have the impression that the Korean public are a lot more ‘violent’ and loud than we are over here.

LOL HS gets saved but she won’t thank the judge. I wonder why she always had this thing about disrespecting this judge.

@WE LOL, Do Yeon does not seem like the kind to date anyone, let alone a nice guy like Cha.

We find out now that Min really is alive!!! We get to see him in beard and glasses. Timestamp 53:20

@WE, @SD … We get to see the nifty revolving door again – the image of gears spinning in HS’s mind – but this time SH enters the door and stops the gears for a while, a sign of how he’s really taken up residence in HS’s mind, even when she keeps herself away from him.

I’d need to post the script but here the scene in the corridor (near toilet door).
HS rejects Cha.
He ask if it’s because she didn’t forgive him.
Nope, it’s not for that.
He asks “then why”.. CUT !!!!!
Could seems like a hook, but…

Asap next scene with Soo-Ha running in the street.
Here the answer. 😉
I think

LOL @MM where did the thought on knees and marathons come in?

But it’s silly, just later, she tries to avoid him. She’s has hard time to accept any feeling with this younger-embarassing boy. Damn, the heroine has big trouble to see in herself, but anyway, it’s like that since the drama starts. 🙂

@WE, yes SH is the answer to why HS says no to Cha. The cut to SH tells us. Later we hear it.

This second half of the episode we get to see HS admit that she likes Soo Ha. She wants to get him out of her system ,.. possibly because he’s so much younger than herself. But she’s torn between being the adult that he can depend on and the woman that he likes, who likes him back.

@GB, Kuan Woo finally gets his answer why he is not the one.

My knee took me on a very pleasant long walk 2 days ago and I have been hobbling around the house ever since.

I get very exhausted with these rewatches–too intense for my aging brain cells.In both cases walking and rewatching are good for me!!!

@MM, yes, keeping the brain and muscles limbered up are the only way to keep the cells from dying faster than they should. It’s hard work but practice and exercise is important to slow down what age does.

Crying in he bathroom scene with DW rying outside the bathroom-the personal loss for the truth that @GB mentioned above. Yes WE I need to reread your comment later.

She really could find more harsh words for him in the coffee shop. Damn dramas, they are loud on harshness!!

@SD, I’m glad you were able to read my thoughts on this episode. I got all excited and started writing after I did a rewatch.

If you managed to read that we’re thinking of watching “While You Were Sleeping” next, you can let us know if you’re okay with that and start watching it.

The reversal comes with the “toilet” scenes which was cut off. And we have last word from HS.
So, no matters what she said after, as a way to escape to her feeling, it ends with her and Soo-Ha under the rain, with, as GB noticed, the change about who hold the Umbrella.
Best way to make an emotion strong is (as we noticed in Castaway Diva) to make it impossible first. 🙂

The reappearance of the tooth post it notes from episode 1 is a jokey reference to how well this show uses more complicated motifs!

@MM, huh?! The tooth post was from episode 1. Crazy, after Xth rewatch I missed it!

@SD, probably you should watch WYWS, just that. I think you will fall from your chair at the end of episode 1. 😀 (and probably halfway before too)

GrokAI about the case with missing hand: AI couldn’t find a real korean case with that, but keep in mind that GrokAI isn’t perfect and MAYBE there could be a real case everyone forgot but the writer used.

Anyway, about how realistic is the case, here the answer from GrokAI:

South Korean Legal Framework (Summary)
In South Korea, a murder conviction without a complete body is legally plausible if evidence establishes death and guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A severed hand, identified via DNA, fingerprints, or other markers, can suffice as proof of death, especially when supported by additional evidence like blood, DNA, circumstantial factors (e.g., motive, suspect behavior), or witness testimony. Since the 2000s, South Korean courts have increasingly relied on forensic evidence, such as DNA analysis, for convictions. In the 1980s-1990s, however, investigations often depended on confessions or limited evidence, sometimes leading to judicial errors. In the context of “I Hear Your Voice”, a conviction based on a severed hand, blood, and DNA is realistic, though the drama may have simplified procedural complexities for dramatic effect.

The kind judge asks how she became a lawyer with her attitude. More irony!

@WE Thank you for the info about SK law. Melts away some of my uncertainties about the plot, which I found rather unlikely from this writer, and highlights just how clever ad meaningful the plot is.

@MM, it’s nothing, but I find it right to mention that anyway, in a drama: dramatic and emotions are first, then plot follow. I think writer Kim Soon Ok made it not only parody but a meta-effect in her drama “Escape of the Seven”, ignoring any realism and focusing in a heavy way about dramatics as if it were the only law of the drama (and exposing it in a meta-way on purpose). But I have to confess that this “tour de force” was too much for me and I would prefered more consistency, in particular at the very end (that I found quite bad). However many times in the drama I found it great. Really one of my favorite writer. Just I find the Penthouse better in every way, except maybe the 5 first episodes of Escape of the Seven.

@MM, we tend to forget it, especially at this point in the drama, but DY would have known HS’s mother very well also. She would have grown up with her in the house and could have thought of her as a second mother. But we know, having seen it in the scene where SH is helping her mother with the party for DY and complains bitterly (just before the firecracker scene) that SH’s mother very much modifies her behavior around DY and her family.

@GB To extend the discussion of the scene in the rain, I thought at first that she went to him because of the open window in her apartment and thoughts about the security she had when he lived there. It would also be because she was thnking about him in the rain, unprotected. And then the scene in the rain where they are protecting each other!

I have been trying to come upwith the term for a scene in a drama,like this scene, that illustrates so much about a theme, encapsulating so much about the narrative.

Any ideas? It was a scene in Story of Kunning Palace that had me searching for this term.