Since I can sense you champing at the bit, I’ll open this thread, @GB. Go ahead and post your comments. I’m finishing up something.
Yes. The bubbles everywhere, as you noted, @GB. They look pretty for a while but they eventually burst in the same way that her dreams and illusions are shattered in time.
As Yoda might say, “Repellent, this kiss is.” But at least, it wasn’t a cotton candy kiss made popular by “It’s Okay, That’s Love” (2014) kdrama.
All I can say is, when YeongRye was imagining these things, her bestie JH and JaePil had already begun dating.
That bicycle/picnic date? To me, it was JH and JaePil’s date. JH merely invited YeongRye to tag along so YeongRye and SangCheol could form a four-some with them.
The following day, when JH discovered the Giant hand towel in YeongRye’s locker, she realized what her friend had been going through all along. YeongRye had given JaePil up for her.
So…out of stupid nobility good conscience, she planned to break up with JaePil as soon as she could. But the bus accident happened. (See the “timing” as the title indicated?)
She had no choice but to put her plan on hold.
Thanks @pkml3!
I was writing some stuff on the fake-outs and re-reading our posts on the earlier episodes. Yes, the bit is being thoroughly chomped!!!
Double-posting @GB’s comment here from “Voiceovers” thread, so reactions/replies can be centralized here.
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Thanks for this thread @pkml3. I don’t believe the subs for the voiceovers are sufficiently different, hence I did not post any voiceovers yet. I still have to check on the other episodes if I’ve the time.
However I did transcribe the Episode 6 voiceover.
EPISODE 6 – TIMING
Yeong Rye ‘s Voiceover as the ‘Open-door Departure Accident’ is about to be reported ie before any of the Bus Conductors knew about it:
“Jun Hui, that day I realised life really is just one moment of timing after another.”
Meanwhile back at the dorm, JH is looking at the Giant Gym towel with the date 21 May 1982 on it. She puts two-and-two together, recalling that Sang Cheol had said ruefully ‘Do you think YR really likes me?’ And ‘You call yourselves best friends. You don’t seem to know your own friend very well.’ JH is very still as she starts to understand what YR has been doing with regards to JP.
Yeong Rye’s Voiceover continues: “The start of a misfortune that struck without reason. By a single, split-second choice, the victim of that misfortune could change. In the midst of countless such moments, where on earth was our fate truly headed?”
YR speaks of the misfortune of the accident, however her words can of course be applied to other circumstances. We can apply them to JH’s split-second choice with regards to what YR may have felt for or still be feeling for JP, and with regards to her own decision on which person mattered more to herself. The ‘victim’ would change depending on her choice.
Later we can apply it again to her fight or flight reaction, and to YR’s decision on what should be done to protect her.
In dramas it’s made to appear that circumstances drive characters to make certain decisions, but both in dramaland and in real life, there usually is more than 1 choice. So it’s true, even if we don’t believe in fate, that we cannot tell what the end result will be.
@pkml3 and everybody who reads this…
Mystery Endings and Fake-outs
As this is already Episode 6, I can say more here without affecting those who don’t want spoilers in the earlier episode notes.
Still, my write-up below is intentionally cryptic. LOL. Read it and still remain uninformed, unless you’ve already watched all of Episode 6.
So we already guessed that this series is similar in style to the many Reply series, where viewers have to guess who ends up with which boyfriend or husband. The fun is in playing the guessing game or game of deduction from the clues scattered throughout the episodes, plus getting a hopefully warm and coherent story/mystery/romance or whatever along the way. This show has the husband thing too, but it also has an added mystery or hole in it’s plot that we are supposed to discover.
That’s all well and good; however, what if Show is decidedly sneaky and besides clues to aid Viewers as we play along, also throws in red-herrings or fake-outs. I’ve come across at least 2 of them so far: scenes that look like they are taking place but which were simply misdirection ie to be blunt: lies!!
One of them was the ‘confession’ of YR to JP that she liked him and wanted a chance to date him. That ‘confession’ only took place in her mind, but it was sold to us as a real happening until a little later. That was more like a good joke and reasonable, since we knew that it was highly unlikely YR would ever make that kind of confession to JP, and the imagination sequence with lots of bubbles was a dead giveaway that all was a rosy daydream.
The other fake-out was when we were shown that YR had taken over Ms Choi’s shift in the bus on which the accident took place. This was a long scene of YR getting out of the bus, letting passengers out and then pushing in too many passengers, until the door could not be closed and she could barely stand on the last step. This was a very long fake-out ie a BIG lie!!!
When the accident occurred and all we saw were the feet of someone on the road, we would naturally think it was either YR or a passenger. But it was neither, and we would not have been able to guess who it was, because we had been lied to.
The revelation of the true course of that event came only several minutes into Episode 6. Viewers who believed the fake-out were confused (although relieved) to see YR walk into the dorm locker room.
So now we ask ourselves, are we prepared to keep playing this guessing game with the Show that has no qualms lying to us? (Maybe, but it’s for other reasons and not because we enjoy being deceived). Is it a fair game at all? (I’d say ‘No’). So will we continue to watch and guess or try our luck deducing the true ending? (Yes, as long as it does not get too annoying and there are fellow Viewers playing along).
What do you say?
Heh, thanks for the double post @pkml3. I was not sure where to post it.
So now that we know the ending of Episode 6…
YES SPOILER ALERT TO ANYONE WHO HAS NOT WATCHED TO THE END YET
… we are clearer about the fact that we are to figure out not just 1 mystery ending but maybe 2 or more! We want to know what happened after JH ran away as instructed by YR, why she was YR’s one and only friend, whether the voiceovers were only in YR’s mind or if she ever tried to contact JH or vice versa. I also want to know if the ‘storm’ YR spoke of in her Voiceover of Ep 3 took place or has yet to take place. (I believe it’s the latter)
The tone of nostalgia and slight melancholy, plus the preview of future episodes suggest that JH once gone, managed to disappear from even YR’s life. But since Show can lie to us, one is never sure!
Then in another attempt at misdirection, we see that it’s JP who is still in YR’s life and referred to by her colleagues as her boyfriend. We will seein the preview that it’s not all that it seems. And that there’s still a question of timing, because he was possibly going to confess or propose … but then JH is suddenly and unexpected sighted.
Hence the other mystery… who ends up with JP or do we even care?
I believe we’re more interested in who YR ends up with, if with anyone at all, and definitely I’m most interested in knowing if the girls can get together again comfortably, or if the huge elephant(s) in the room will just make everything too awkward.
I call this the “‘butterfly effect’ trope in kdramas.” Kdrama screenwriters like to project this notion that a seemingly minor decision of an individual (i.e., the metaphorical flapping of a lone butterfly’s wing in Brazil) can have a far-reaching, unforeseen and unintended consequence because we’re all interconnected. Who can tell for sure who the real “victim” is of one’s decision/action when the effects of one’s decision/action can ripple outwards.
But to me, this is a negative and fatalistic way of viewing life. It does NOT have to happen that way. Things do NOT always have a domino effect or a ripple effect. And a misfortune does NOT have to remain one; it can be converted into a godsend.
We know the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make a lemonade.”
More often than not, one person’s stupid action is his/her responsibility alone.
Just post anywhere, @GB. No problemo.
I’ll just move or double-post posts where I think we can find them without hassle in the future.
@pkml3, about the butterfly effect, I agree that we are not hapless pawns being moved about by the decisions of others. Yes, we can choose between a good, better and even best choice although these might include facing difficult challenges. We can take every bad experience as a means to learn and grow stronger.
I felt from the moment YR took the surprising action of running out with JH and telling her to run away, that it was a mistake. It felt wrong to me. It felt inconsistent of YR’s so far responsible character, who had been full of integrity… who had been all for standing up to injustice, fighting for what was right, taking positive action to defend or protect. But instead of this she chose the negative, irresponsible route of getting her friend to run and hide. And this would mean JH returning to the ‘hell’ of being always afraid as she’d been before. It would mean that they would be separated and JH would be alone without job or family or friends.
I feel that if the decision to run had come from JH herself, it would have made more sense. It was in line with her usual run and hide reflex. But this time, JH had wanted to stay to see that Bad Manager would be okay and it was YR who told her to run. 😖🤨😑
The disorienting part of the time skip is it’s only 7 years later. They aren’t in the current time (2025) yet so we can expect AT LEAST one more fast-forward before the end of the series.
I had to make a mental calculation.
They were born in 1963. Year of the Rabbit.
The beginning of the story was set in 1982 as was printed on the JP’s towel.
They were indeed 19 years old in 1982.
In 1989, the three people (YR, JH, JP) were 26 years old. SangCheol, a year younger.
@pkml3 This nonsense of YR giving up JP for JH quite irritates me. You mentioned it yourself that the girls could not have passed the boy back and forth between them, except with his consent.
Giving up JP because her BF had already given him up for her makes totally no sense, except that if they planned to always go out as a group, it might have been a bit awkward. However since YR was okay with it, JH should have been okay with it as well. The noble or just plain idiocy of it was that having a simple conversation with YR, could have cleared up everything, and nothing so drastic as break-up need have happened.
(Actually when I saw JP gift JH a pair of shoes, and heard him say something like ‘where would she be without him’… and that she did not take issue with him for that statement, I knew it was going to be a farewell trip. It’s another of those idiotic things in kdramas and cdramas, where at the end of a happy outing, one person springs a break-up on the other.)
Giving up JP out of friendship to YR did not do anything for the friendship, and worse, it made JH appear in a bad light, caused heartbreak for 2 people and did not ease the heartbreak for YR. It did absolutely no good whatsoever!!!
Then ‘TIMING’!!! That’s when the attack and scuffle with Bad Manager took place, so:
* Nothing is resolved.
* YR did not find out that JH had broken off with JP out of friendship.
* JH runs away without even being able to go to JP for help.
* JP never gets the chance to confront JH about how she’d written his name at the cafe, ie bout how she’d lied about having a change of heart.
* The friends get separated for years.
And this was all unnecessary angst for everyone!!!
That confused me, too. Wasn’t the lady in the hair salon — the one who foisted the creepy client on her — one of the bus attendants? The one who got pregnant?
Didn’t she keep in touch with the bus attendant who lost her leg?
Or did YeongRye mean BEST friend? She may have one true BEST friend, but surely she has friends in that hair salon alone.
Yes. I think that was a misdirection. JP can’t be her boyfriend if people around them are still wondering when the love confession will happen.
Lol. It’s probably a “some” relationship.
I’m disappointed in her, frankly, if she’s still hankering for this guy. I seriously don’t get that.
One, he’s her best friend’s ex?!! Her castoff. Gross.
Two, he’s no catch.
Three, he does NOT love her. She’s only a placeholder for him.
As long as it isn’t with YeongRye, I don’t give a rat’s a$$. 🙂
The other more pressing issue for me (aside from where is Daddy-Long-Legs?) is what happened to her ambition of becoming a literature professor? Not that I’m knocking her career choice (her income is probably higher than a teacher when tips are calculated, lol) but I thought she was determined to achieve her goal.
Good point about the time @pkm3. Since in Ep 6 we are only in 1989, then that ‘storm’ which is mentioned is going to take place soon. Three’s going to be enough conflict in that to bring us into 2025, still wondering who ends up where.
I was amused by the farewell outing of JH and JP. There was cotton candy again and bubbles, again! This time blown by JH herself. A lack of creativity in how people dated in the 1980s?
At the hairdressing salon, I was pleased to see that Ms Choi was working with YR. We can guess that she might have kept the baby and having left the Bus Company had found the job at the salon. Perhaps both YR and Ms Choi had left the Bus Company at the same time.
@pkml3, thanks for the reminder… yes…she said it might take some time but she wanted to complete college and go into teaching. Well, there’s another 36 years before we get to 2025, so there’s still time?
True, that she should not consider JP as anything more than a friend. After 7 long years, is she still waiting for him to confess? If he hasn’t, then he obviously never loved her in the right way. Obviously, she herself has not confessed to him either.
Maybe he hung on around her hoping to hear from JH in the process. Then he continued to stick to her out of habit. She, of course, would just let him be there if it made him happy. It seems that with the break-up, his dedication to his studies paid off, and he’s a doctor in 1989.
I presume our Daddy-Long-Legs (LOL it’s what YR herself calls him!!! I was so amused) did go abroad to take up whatever law job was held for him, so he never made a move for YR. Last episode mentioned that his sister wanted him to go back. So all we need now is more TIMING and the return of Jeong Hyun, just before JP proposes or whatever.
I’m reminded of a 19th century battle that took place near where I live.
There was a civil war going on, but the Washington society elites thought that they could all go watch this battle between the Union and Confederate armies because they believed the Union soldiers would handily beat the other side.
So they packed their picnic baskets with champagne and comestibles and off they went to war.
To their horror, it didn’t turn out the way they expected. The Confederate troop shocked everyone with their fierce counter-offensive, so much so that the Union soldiers, along with these fancily-dressed spectators, fled in panic. On foot and in carriages.
As you can imagine, the picnic baskets and picnic blankets were left behind.
And that’s how I view JH’s decision to breakup with JP. She thought it was an easy affair; a walk in the park.
Just go along with their scheduled date. Accept his gift (yeah…when I saw the shoes, I immediately thought of the curse/superstition that went with it). Go do whatever he wanted. Make him have a day to remember. Then, say goodbye to him like she was just a casual spectator to an imminent calamity.
Haven’t I heard of this scenario in a song before? From Andrew Lloyd Webster’s “Tell me on a Sunday please.”
Don’t write a letter when you want to leave
Don’t call me at 3 a.m. from a friend’s apartment
I’d like to choose how I hear the news
Take me to a park that’s covered with trees
Tell me on a Sunday, please
Let me down easy, no big song and dance
No long faces, no long looks, no deep conversation
I know the way we should spend that day
Take me to a zoo that’s got chimpanzees
Tell me on a Sunday, please
Except JH didn’t really give JP a choice here. She made a unilateral decision which is juvenile because a romantic relationship involves two people. Breaking up is always a bloody affair.
@pkml3, oh that was one of my favourite musicals: Song and Dance. I somehow recorded it and rewatched it so many times.
Well you did say that this is one series we should do a live commenting on, because we see the characters make so many mistakes and need to air our grievances about them! LOL.
So JH makes the same old drama mistake of breaking it off without ever talking it out honestly with the party (or parties) involved. Perhaps she thinks that makes her some kind of saint, but it does no one any good at all, and in fact causes harm that will come back to bite them all.
Your summary of that ill-conceived picnic reminded me of how their one and only outing got rained on and they had to leave all their food and run for shelter. Even then, the couples were split up, under different shelters. It was a foreshadowing.
I agree, @GB. I think it was a weak plot twist and I blame the screenwriter for that. I get that the drama had to have a break by the 6th episode so the two female leads can separate and meet again by the beginning of the second half, but the whole fighting with the boss, stabbing the boss with YR’s pen, running away and falling snow scene was too contrived.
(That’s another superstition going on there: the couple who are together on the “first snow of the season” will end up together. Couple together = JaePil and YeongRye. Yuck.)
As for YR instructing JH to skedaddle, I agree it was a harebrained move but it wasn’t entirely out of character for me. Yes, she’s always been responsible but lately, she’s been acting impetuously — especially in the presence of JH. Like, defying the bedroom Unnie, head-butting JH’s Violent Brother, “stealing” the bus and running away with it, cycling ahead of the gang on that picnic outing.
She’s no longer the timid girl who felt nauseous because she was going on a sogaeteng.
Daddy-long-legs commented that he didn’t expect her to lead the protest/strike. But I think she was developing her sense of justice/injustice. At 19, her moral development and ethical principles weren’t fully formed yet.
We have yet to figure out who the “real victim” of this unexpected turn of events is.
Oh noooo! Not my SangCheol! hahaha.
I think he makes a good “starter pack” boyfriend for an equally innocent and sweet girl-next-door. Definitely not for JH. With her, he’ll be out of his depth. And the nice thing about SangCheol is that he’s self-aware enough to know his limitations from the very beginning, at the sogaetang.
I told you, right? This is just right for gossiping old biddies like us. All we need is some Earl Gray tea and cucumber sandwiches.