I didn’t have time to watch these but I read the recaps.
Episode 1: Youth, how beautiful
Episode 2: Where will we meet again, and what will have become of us?
Episode 3: Fate (What Fate?/Some Kind of Fate)
Episode 4: One step behind
Episode 5: A bad day
Episode 6: Timing
Episode 7: Fate
Episode 8: Among So Many Stars
Episode 9: A Connection Lost
Episode 10: Close to You
So, let me try to sum this up.
In Episode 1, YeongRye begins to narrate her hundred memories that began in 1983, when she was 19 years old.
At the end of Episode 6, YeongRye said goodbye to her first love, and to her life in her teens.
In Episode 7, the story of YeongRye and her “some” relationship with JaePil resumes shortly before Rose Day in 1989, when she was 26 years old.
By Episode 10, her “Giant” JP (I’d say “giant” do-nothing) realizes that he LIKES her, after hearing her confession of her unrequited love on a radio station. She chooses Giant over Daddy-Long-Legs.
We only have 2 more episodes to go.
Hopefully, by 2025, when she’s 61 ~ 62 years old, she can reflect on these hundred memories with the wisdom and maturity gained from hindsight, so she can come to her senses that a) her obsession with “fate-driven love” and being “first” screwed her up, and b) for JP, she’s only a second option, and an afterthought. She’s never his first choice. Ha! Good luck living with that.
A 2025 self-retrospective of YeongRye is the only way I can make sense of her previous voiceovers tinged with regret, and her indefensible choice of JP. Oh well. After this show ends, I may have to write life lessons to counter the romantic delusions left by this kdrama on impressionable viewers. The screenwriter unequivocally sets us back to the 1980s.
@GB’s commentary
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EPISODE 9
SPOILERS
I have watched the first 2 episodes of a modern-day rom-com, “Would You Marry Me?” and the striking difference in the female lead there and here is that Meri has a great deal more sense of her self-worth and self-respect than I feel our Yeong Rye has in this drama.
YR has going on for years based on only her one-side feelings, and her hopeful interpretations of JP’s ‘friendly’ interactions ie she’s hoping those gestures of his means he likes her romantically but she can NEVER be sure.
What is worse, knowing that JH is now out to get JP for herself, YR still wants to be the 3rd corner of the love-triangle. She knew that JP had chosen to date JH instead of herself 7 years earlier, but she still has not enough self-respect to walk away.
What could it possibly earn her if she clings on to JP. Even if JP were strangely to choose her instead of JH… would YR ever be certain that it was because he really loved her? Would she wonder if he was just grateful for her years of devotion towards him and his family? Wouldn’t she always wonder if regretted choosing her since JH was already back in the picture. Wouldn’t she always suspect that he’s meeting JH secretly or that there was something they were hiding from her, even if she was married to him? Why torture herself!!!?
I’d really like it if these kinds of kdramas dared to turn the tables on themselves and the expectations of their viewers and show us a FL (or ML) who had the good sense and self-respect to walk away instead of wait/pine away/hope for the undeserving ‘beloved’. They do not seem to remember the little aphorism/maxim: “Love means being able to let go”.
The other thing that is still going on … I don’t like that JP is still trying to be the one YR focuses on, for eg when he replaced the drink Jeong Hyun brought her with the one he bought. He has no business being possessive over her since he won’t commit himself to her. If she’s a “friend that he cannot imagine life without” (those are his words), does that mean he wants to tie her to his life forever so that she cannot have a life of her own? He won’t marry her but no one else can do so too?
I really want her sharp-tongued mother to see this and advise her, or her rather useless brother who’s basicallyy a waste of space so far. The only thing good he has done is help JH. Yes both girls should jettison JP and just go for the older guys.
DLL Jeong Hyun of course will see/has seen how it will go with JP, but it’s more unlikely that he could advice YR or that she’d listen to him, since he would benefit from distancing her from JP, and that would weaken his argument.
The other thing about YR that bothers me… she protests too much whenever anyone wants to help her. It’s such a burden to be with a person who is always giving and not wanting anything in return, especially when she could do with the help.
At this stage, Show is going the way of the Reply Series in the infuriating game of ‘who’s going to be the girlfriend’.
@GB’s commentary
*****
EPISODE 10 – CLOSE TO YOU
SPOILERS
We get what looks like a conclusion of sorts but there’s still the Miss Korea Beauty Pageant, and 2 more episodes to go.
In the end it was DLL who had to knock some sense into the guy. That and the radio show that coincidentally the taxi driver wanted to listen to. One wonders if not for the convergence of these things, if anything would have happened on the confession front.
I still feel he does not deserve to be the boyfriend. When his first words to her as part of his confession were that she was so essential to him, I was not amused. It always was about what he got from her, and not what he would offer her. Romance score 2/10.
With 2 more episodes to go, things can still go south or north, depending on how we look at them.
More importantly, there’s more suspense to come. Driver Kim is I hope, going to be more in the picture. And violent brother is out of jail – he is rather over the top in being such an all-round jerk.
@Snowflower’s comment
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@GB, driver Kim, evil brother, and former bus company manager could cause some trouble in the last two episodes.
I agree that the ML has nothing to offer the FL. It is not a relationship based on equal love and respect. I feel bad for Jung Hyun. He was honest and direct, but not pushy or needy. In my fanfic alternative universe, YR realizes how she was used by JP and learns to appreciate Jung Hyun, and eventually falls in love with him. JP has another fling with JH, and maybe they stay together. I am still on the fence about YR’s brother. He seems to care for JH, but he has not made a move.
@GB,
I just watched the last minutes and transcribed the scene for us. From Viki.
The radio station: “Giant. My first meeting with him is remembered as Giant. As always, I was calling out “All right!” on an overcrowded bus. When a passenger skimped on the fare and bolted, I sprinted after him at full speed that morning. That’s when I met him for the first time. And just like that, I fell for him at first sight. When fate brought us together again, his eyes weren’t on me but on my friend. Yet I couldn’t turn away from our connection. Because he was my first love. And even now, he remains by my side like a Giant. With no idea of how I feel for him…. Like the lyrics of the song that drifted from the music café that day, when will I be able to move closer to him? Close to you. Closer to you. Close to you. Toward you.”
JP: (musing) She was there. In every moment that felt unbearable, she was always right next to me. Just holding my hand and quietly being my support. I was her first love. And now, my…
And then, here’s their dialogue at the beach.
YR: Actually, I had something to tell you. JaePil –
I’m curious to know what she was going to tell him. This is obviously a callback to that scene in the hospital parking lot in Episode 3.
JP: Let me go first. I want to go first. It came to me on my way here. From the moment we first met until now, you’ve been by my side through every difficult moment. I’ve leaned on you…and found strength in you.
Hahaha. How about that? She’s become his “Daddy Long Legs” or “Mommy Short Legs.”
JP: You’re someone I can’t live without – No. Someone I can’t imagine living without. So…So, why did I keep labeling you as just a friend?
YR: Jaepil.
JP: Let’s stop being friends. I don’t want to stay friends with you anymore. I like you. I like it when you smile. I like talking to you on the phone. I like it when you ask me if I’m okay. I love every single moment I spend with you. Ko Yeong Rye.
YR: I was first. To be honest…. I’ve liked you since back then—
JP: (kisses her)
@GB rated his confession 2/10. She was being generous; I’d rate it 2/100. Why?
1. The actor’s delivery is anemic. He sounds like he’s reading the words, instead of being/living in the moment. As a result, the character JP looks stiff, disconnected, and unconvincing.
2. While JP talks about how much he likes her company, there’s NO JOY and NO LIGHT in his eyes. His smile is stiff and doesn’t reach his eyes. (Perhaps though it’s the limitation of the actor.) To me, he should have looked happy while he’s talking about her impact on his life. Instead, he looks pained.
3. He keeps nodding his head as he lists the things that he likes about her. To me, this particular body language demonstrates his:
a. nervousness (which is expected, I guess, because it’s his first time confessing),
b. eagerness to convince her to believe him,
c. eagerness to convince HIMSELF that he indeed feels attraction for her, and not just friendship.
d. apology that he didn’t recognize her feelings for her sooner.
The sincerity of his words is undermined by his constant nodding.
4. The title of this drama is “A Hundred Memories” and yet he mentions not a SINGLE, SPECIFIC memory of a CHERISHED moment with her. Instead, he only gives her generic and general reasons for liking her.
Just compare it to the letter that YeongRye sent to the radio station about her first love. She brought up that first meeting because to her that’s a momentous event. What’s it for JP then?
5. Dude! As a viewer, I want to hear how she MOVES you! Tell me how she inspires you to be a better person.
6. “If you become my companion, every morning, I will make you bibimbap.”
This is the line from “Bon Appetit, Your Majesty” that won the girl’s heart, and touched me. In bringing up the bibimbap, the king accomplished two things. One, he displayed that he remembered something from their first meeting, and it made an IMPACT on him. Two, he vowed to do something for her in the future. In effect, he was promising to be WORTHY of her choice.
And these two elements are missing in JP’s long-winded confession. Oof.
7. None of what he says is convincing evidence that his feelings for her have progressed from friendship to attraction/love/ardor.
Bah! Humbug.
Many thanks @pkml3 for transcribing the scene. I rewatched it, and yup … I was not impressed at all. I was not convinced that JP believed what he was saying.
I do think, though, that it’s partially the actor who is lacking. He could not drum up the enthusiasm in his confession.
The other thing I did not like was that he interrupted her with the kiss. Not only did he not give her a chance to speak in the beginning, but at the end, she did not get to complete what she had begun to say. What was that? A lack of respect or sheer impatience?
The times people stop a person from speaking with a kiss is usually when they don’t want to hear what the other person is saying or want to stop that other person from speaking.
She had just begun to say that “I was first. The truth is, for a long time now, I …” And that’s when he stopped her with a kiss. I wonder why. Did he feel bad or a dunce that she had to wait so long for him to figure it out? Did he just not want to listen because he’d heard her letter on the radio? Did it bother him that if he heard her out, he would have to admit that she wasn’t his first love, and so he cut her short with a kiss?? Whatever the reason, it doesn’t seem good enough.
And that “Close to You” song (which I really liked when I was a kid) just goes on and on, as if trying to make up for what was lacking in that confession. The thing that’s not great about that song being used here: it’s about a teenage sort of crush, not about a committed love through thick and thin. It considers the ‘boy’ a dream come true with moon dust in hair and what that singer and a bevy of other females do is try to get close to him by following him around. What happens when the scales fall from their eyes and the moon dust can be seen as dross?
In the case of this pairing, the song might be applied now more to JP who rushed over to meet YR. Let’s see if the crush lasts.
It looks like there will be some action in the final episode. I am watching till the (bitter) end, mostly for Kim Jung Hyun.
@Snow Flower I only managed half of Episode 11 and stopped when the ‘bad guys’ met each other. I expect I know what will happen. I plan to skip watch all the tiresome ‘mean-people-doing-mean-things’ scenes and head towards the ending as quickly as possible.
I think that whatever the mean guys plan to do will happen at the beginning of Episode 12. Then, hopefully the love square will get resolved. I just hope there is no body count…
Well the series has wrapped. I really feel that the filler could have been edited out a lot more to keep the episode to just 1 hour. 1 hour and 19 minutes was too long. I admit I deliberately skipped a lot.
It ended around 1990 with all threads that we care about resolved and a possible new thread for the future. On the whole it was at least as expected and better than many other drama endings. I’m happy enough to have watched it but I don’t think I’ll rewatch this show.
The last six episodes of this show felt like an actual melodrama from 1989, complete with plot holes and unexpected twists lacking in logic. The ending did manage to tie all loose ends, which is quite an accomplishment these days. Poor Jung Hyun. He deserves to meet a cute and spunky Korean expat in Paris who will heal his broken heart.
It’s really unfortunate that Jung Hyun didn’t get a happy ending. His eyes can’t hide the emotional pain he’s feeling. My terrible imagination sees that the airport scene in the last episode is also the last time he’ll be seen alive as he contracted a fatal disease during his overseas trip, like what happened in ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’ novel.
Howdy!
I am very late but I just wanted to say that I was more interested in the loveline between YR’s hyung and JH and YR and DDL.
I am very disspointed at how JP realised his feelings for YR. 7 years Dude!!! I cannot and will not wait that long.
The only two things I liked in this drama are the family bonding over food and YR and JH’s friendship.
I think I wasted my 12 hours. LOL!