As we go deeper into the plot, we forget where and when we first saw details, symbols, and motifs. I’ll try to list them as I go.

Key Developments:

1. Philip Yoo (PY) tests GaGyeong’s loyalty without SoRan’s knowledge.

GaGyeong (GG) impresses – and shames – the Gugukdan folks with her:

a. situational awareness
b. nerves of steel
c. real pluck.

She wants out because they failed to trust her. PY pulls a gun on her as she walks out but SoRan (SR) blocks him and also threatens to shoot him with her own gun. Then, SR appeals to GG’s emotion by dropping the same bombshell that she did on PY a couple of days ago.

SR: SeoHee was my daughter’s name. My daughter, the one killed by the inspector general. Help us. We… I need you.

My comments:

a. If you notice, PY likes to pull out his gun and hold it, but he’s never fired it. He’s stymied by SR. I think that this is going to be a motif – or recurring element – about his character.

It bears remembering that in Episode 2, SR expressed her hope that PY would “never have to kill anyone, no matter who they are, even if it’s for independence.” She wanted his hands to remain unbloodied. Instead of firing a gun, she wanted him to use his pen and words to “tell the world how Japan stole Joseon’s sovereignty and committed atrocities.” She and the underground resistance Gugukdan would handle the guns and bombs. In other words, she would take care of the violent resistance while he kept to the nonviolent means. However, in my opinion, PY was unhappy with the division of labor because she appeared to keep him at arm’s length. He pointed out, “Even though I’m your husband, I’m still not part of the ‘us’ you’re talking about.”

Thus, this impasse in Episode 4 – when SR was willing to put a bullet in his head for GG – must have vexed him. When they return home, they have a conversation because he can’t believe that she actually pulled a gun on him. Note that SR leaves his question unanswered. My guess is she was seriously considering it. Lol.

SR: Please don’t ever keep anything about her from me again.
PY: Were you really going to shoot me? Or was it just part of the act to win her over?
SR: (not answering)
PY: You brought up SeoHee with her. Was it part of your plan too?
SR: (turning to face him) Don’t worry about her. She’s desperate to go to America. She won’t betray us easily. That’s why she must never find out that there was never any way to get her to America in the first place.

b. It’s worth noting that SR and PY have known each other for three years, but she shared the story about her daughter only recently. In contrast, GG is a newcomer and yet she already opened up about her tragic past. To me, this is a sign of affinity between the two women. There’s a strong likelihood that SR sees her as stand-in for her daughter (her daughter would have been GG’s age if she were alive) and that, in turn, GG sees her as a mother-figure to substitute for the one who abandoned her.

2. Sato Hideo aka Kim TaeUng (TU) and his mothers

Speaking of mother figures, there are so many surrogates in TU’s life. Since I’m writing this Ep 4 commentary after watching Episode 6, here’s a list to figure out who’s who:

a. his biological mother. We don’t know anything about her because TU’s life seems to have started when he encountered Sato while pickpocketing.

b. his adoptive mother. We know more about her than the other mothers. She was a Korean woman who left them one day while they were living in Japan. (Hmmm? Or did Sato kill her, too? Is that why he almost shot TU when TU burst into his room?)

Note: In the spirit of deception, the camera has never shown her face. Remember what I said in Episode 1 about the director hiding the faces if the character has something to conceal? I wouldn’t be surprised if she, too, was deceiving Sato when she married him and moved to Japan with him. For example, she could’ve had a lover in sidelines or participated in the resistance and spied on Sato.

In any case, the woman hid a pawnshop ticket in her sewing box. TU only came across it when they were moving boxes for their return to Keijo (Seoul). That explains why the ticket has been unclaimed for 13 years: the TU’s family were gone that long.

Note: the name on the ticket is Sin TaeJin which appears to be a man’s name. I’m taking a guess here that the man didn’t go to the pawnshop to hock an object because he needed money, but that he used the pawnshop like our modern-day safe deposit box, i.e., he was storing a valuable item in the pawnshop. This man then gave the pawn ticket to TU’s adoptive mother for safekeeping OR for her own safety OR as some sort of “dead man’s switch”.

What’s a “dead man’s switch”? Generally speaking, it’s a safety switch. But in this kdrama, it’s a trigger that activates when someone is killed. For instance, if the pawn ticket is claimed, it’s a signal that death has occurred and all hidden and incriminating information would be released to the public.

GG actually threatened SoRan with a “dead man’s switch” when SoRan tried to recruit her to spy for the Gugukdan. GG told her that, if she didn’t return home that evening, her friends would go to the police and expose the Gugukdan. (Of course, she was lying though.)

c. the mother of Sato’s daughter

She was the daughter of the influential Sato family. She died recently.

From Episode 1 –

Fukuda: I apologize for not being able to attend your wife’s funeral last year.
Sato: Don’t worry about it. No need to come all the way from Keijo to Tokyo for something trivial.
TU: (instantly looking at his sister to see if she took offense at her father’s words)
Sister: (no reaction)

This woman might or might not have treated TU well.

d. the housekeeper, Yunagi

She appears to Korean but has adopted a Japanese name. In the name of assimilation, the Japanese forced Koreans to replace their Korean names with Japanese ones during the colonial period.

She looks concerned when TU doubled up in pain.

Yunagi: What’s wrong? Can’t you breathe?
TU: No. I’m fine.
Yunagi: Let’s get you to a doctor. I’ll call a cab.
TU: No. Really. I’m fine. It’s just a passing spell.
Yunagi: All right. If it happens again, you have to go straight to the hospital.
TU: (coughing)

This seems like a minor detail but I think it’ll come into play later in the story. Obviously, this has nothing to do with the gun shot wound on his arm. (While other viewers were distracted about the actor’s torso in Episode 2, we should have observed that only his arm was bandaged and he wore a necklace.)

In Episode 4, the camera briefly showed the necklace which matches GG, the scar on the right side of his chest, and the recent cut from the gun shot. The scar tells me that he once had a punctured lung, and though it healed, he has long-term respiratory issues. That’s probably why Yunagi places a (warm?) pad under the blanket for him.

Also, in this episode, TU asks their housekeeper, Yanagi, about his mother’s real name.

TU: By any chance, do you know my mother’s Joseon name?
Yanagi: Her Joseon name? No. I don’t. I’ve never heard. Why ask all of a sudden?
TU: The truth is I’ve been looking for her since I returned to Gyeongseong. I stumbled upon something while packing our things in Tokyo. I think it might help me find my mother. But…please don’t let Father know.
Yanagi: I won’t.

She looks troubled as he walks away. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew what actually happened to his adoptive mother like Sato shot her dead, buried her quietly, then lied that she walked away from them.

3. Sato’s long speech on the independence movement

His main points:

a. Hope is what keeps the pro-independence movement going. Swords, guns, and torture can’t eradicate the “delusional hope” in the people.

I think he overlooked the correlation, that is, the atrocities they commit and hope the people cling to are directly proportional. The more Joseon people are killed or tortured by the regime, the more the people cling to hope that their sufferings will not be in vain and freedom will be won.

b. After 20 years of Japanese “enlightenment,” Joseon people are still “uncivilized savages.”

c. He’s the best man to bring enlightenment and peace to the land because he was born and raised in Joseon. Nobody knows the Joseon people better than he does.

Yeahhhhh, but he lacks compassion and mercy for the people. 

Take Note: In later episode, it’s revealed that his real name isn’t Sato Shinichi, but Ishikawa Nobuyuki. In this episode, however, it is revealed his family name, Ishikawa, is a common name.

Remember this scene when GG is sent to deliver Japanese dictionary –

GG: Where did you say I should deliver this?
TU: It’s written right there [on the piece of paper]. What is it?
GG: It’s just that I can’t read Chinese characters very well.
TU: What?
GG: I never got to go to school, so I can speak just fine, but reading and writing are a bit hard.

TU proceeds to write “Publication Room” in Japanese. He wrote the phrase in hanja (Chinese characters) because during the Japanese colonial period, the written language mixed hanja with hangul. I’m not sure…but I think hanja was mainly used for nouns and hangul for verbs. Hence, GG couldn’t read the Chinese characters for “Publication Room.” When TU starts to write the director’s name, GG interrupts him.

TU: And his name is –
GG: Mr. Ishikawa. Ishikawa is a pretty common surname. I know basic characters.
TU: Fine. If you say so.

Why am I bringing this up?

For one, in Episode 6, Sato will mention that’s GG’s alias has a rare surname, and he’s beginning to suspect that GG is connected to the man, Geum SeokJung, whom they just killed.

Sato: Fukuda, did you know that Geum is a rare family name?
Fukuda: Pardon?
Sato: Call the Suwon Police Station. Have them find Geum SeokJung’s personal records and send them over. There should be a record from 13 years ago.

In a way, GG will become a specter of Geum SeokJung’s curse. Before he’s killed, he warns Sato to fear karma. He says, “Aren’t you afraid of karma? Mark my words. You will pay dearly for what you’ve done.” Once Sato finds out that GG’s alias is the name of Geum SeokJung’s daughter whom he killed in 1919, he’ll remember the curse and think that GG is his karma and nemesis. Of course, he can’t kill GG outright because she’s supposed to be Philip Yoo’s mistress.

For another, it’ll be dramatic irony if GG turns out to be an Ishikawa herself. 🙂

Remember, she’s supposed to have “filthy blood” because she was the offspring of a woman who slept with a Japanese man. Before that woman abandoned her, she left her with a token, a necklace charm. It’s the same necklace charm that TU wears around his neck which we presume to be given by his adoptive mother, too.

Lol….only in kdramas do we have this kind of entanglements!

4. “Please” moment

Aside from the cute factor, this moment is supposed to show a major shift in their relationship.

I’m sure it’ll become their codeword, and its meaning will change according to the circumstance. Sooner or later, he’ll be required to be able to determine the subtext of her “please.”

For example, this “please”

is different from this “please.”

But another significance of this scene is the discrimination endemic everywhere. GG realizes that she’s accepted nowhere. In the slum area, the Boss mocked her for being half-Japanese and half-Korean. Then, in this government building, rules prevented her from taking the elevator because she’s Korean.

No amount of “please” will grant her entrance to either world in Joseon.

5. The medical/health center

My comments:

a. I don’t need to point out that only TU cared enough to bring her to the clinic and pay for the treatment and ointment.

b. TU is not mistaken in suspecting Philip Yoo of beating up GG. Though Philip Yoo didn’t physically strike her, he was the one who ordered the beatings. Thus, the bruises were caused by Philip Yoo.

c. I shouldn’t be surprised that TU didn’t confront him about the physical abuse. At this point in time, he didn’t want to upset the Western journalist, and he didn’t think he had the right to interfere in the man’s romantic affair. But I’m sure in the future TU will challenge the older man for mistreating GG and exposing her to danger.

6. The butler working for the rich daughter of the Joil Textile 

I’m just saying he LOOKS suspicious to me.

From Episode 3.

And from this episode.

Perhaps it’s his dead face or the fact that he’s received (unnecessary??) screentime, but I wonder where his allegiance truly lies.

7. Who to trust?

This is one of the major problems with undercover operations: deciding on which intel to use.

On one hand, the Gugukdan received the written schedule of the inspector general from GG and they gathered enough intelligence from their multiple “field agents” that Sato would give a speech at an awards ceremony.

But on the other hand, they received a report also from GG – it’s a hearsay because she was only repeating what she heard someone say in the hallway – that Sato would attend a briefing at the Publications Division.

Which one should the Gugukdan act on? The numerous surveillance reports from the reliable group of people or the hearsay from one unreliable informant?

Because they didn’t trust GG, they decided to follow their own intelligence, sources, and field agents and went proceeded with their plan to ambush Sato.

It must be noted however that SR’s gut instinct was to trust GG but she was overridden by the rest of the Gugukdan.

Moreover, I must credit GG for going with her instincts and confirming Sato’s location even with 5 minutes to spare. She understood her mission.

With risky and volatile operations like this, it’s critical for systems to be checked for glitches, compromises, security, updates, leaks, etc. at the last minute, right before deployment. This way, missions can be aborted if needed.

The Gugukdan didn’t understand the importance of last-minute checks, so they fell for Sato’s trap. They needed a kill switch or a “dead man’s switch” that I mentioned earlier.

If we’re counting 100 days of deception, as the title suggests, then this event counts as a watershed moment. They lost so many important members in the ambush, and almost exposed SoRan because Sato succeeded in deceiving them.

8. Did TU overhear her phone conversation or not?

I think he did.

But then again, I want to believe that he’s playing the long game here. While it’s obvious when GG is deceiving him, I can’t tell whether he’s feigning ignorance and biding his time to achieve his real goal or he’s really that naïve about honey-trapping. Ugh.

I guess in 1932, lessons about that exploits of that seductive World War 1 femme fatale, Mata Hari, wasn’t taught to graduates of the Army Academy as well as English Literature graduates of the Tokyo Imperial University.