Sans titre

He has always been clinging and pathetic, no lies detected

A busy weekend prevented me from binging this much awaited drama. I am glad, coz when I finally got to watch the first couple of episodes - I knew this show was not like beer that you gulp down to quench your thirst but more like wine which you need to sip slowly.

At episode 7 now and here are my initial thoughts :

This is Cho Muh hee's journey to find acceptance and love…and GYJ delivers. We have seen her heartbroken, in heady infatuation and deeply insecure (with a violent alter go inside her head!!)…and GYJ just dominates the screen. I love a complex, interesting female lead - and this show is it.

Kim Seon Ho is back to what he does best - look hot, throw those dimples and act his eyes out. His character is the calm to Muhee’s chaos, but it also means that his acting range is not fully utilized. He is perfect in what he delivers – but I wish he had more to do.

The show delivers on the comedy part of the romance in the first half – KSH and GYJ should do a pure sitcom. I have laughed out at every gag – so cleverly written and naturally acted.

Seeing some chatter about people being disappointed that it was not the rom com they expected. I honestly love some angst and human drama – watching 12 episodes of people falling in love is not entertaining if there are no stakes in the game

I love stories around mental health and at episode 7, we are full in alternate personality territory. Curious to see where this leads

Why the f**k is everyone so good looking? From Hiro (played the narcisstic angle so well) to , I want everyone to have a happy ending.

New hyperfixation unlocked!

Stolen Moments

There was a world of difference between the day and the night. When the Quiet Woman visited, Hojin couldn’t stop himself from helping, but it made it that much more unbearable when she forgot all about him in the morning.

A story where Hojin comes to realise that his feelings for Muhee were deeper than he thought, which made his job translating for Hiro that much harder. Aka Let’s give Hiro a real chance and make Hojin suffer a little more.

Hojin and Muhee Endgame

https://archiveofourown.org/works/79828041

. . . a waterfall only you and i know about.

. . . a waterfall only you and i know about.

the hong sisters did a great job with the storyline. all the characters introduced end up being interwoven across the 12 episodes, which is fairly impressive to me considering the regular kdrama run would be longer than 12 episodes. the show time itself also seem to run shorter than most kdramas.

normally, i hate non-linear storytelling but the idea was executed well. the time was spread out well enough for us to understand both leads as individuals and to grasp their budding relationship.

the symbolisms in the show deserves a whole other post alone but my favourite would be the way the writers take advantage of language and its barriers, going above and beyond by utilising it to explore relationships within the show.

i loved muhee from the very first second she appeared and i think it is worth noting that hojin enjoyed his time around her as well. that even before her accident, she was already the broken and unstable girl that was reckless and naive, especially when it comes to love. being in a coma for 6 months and a life threatening accident never changed her values and character. hojin was endeared by her, in the smallest degree, when they first met. it's sweet to me, especially knowing the real reason he was in enoshima. he has always liked cha muhee.

as for hojin, his character is solid and i am glad the writers didn't put him through unnecessary emotional hijinks. his terrible sense of direction is the cutest flaw ever. joo hojin who has a lot of impressive achievements, keeps losing his direction but willingly nudges muhee when she had to find hiro during the first shoot for romantic trip. so fucking cute.

Hometown Cha Cha Cha

As we’re coming to the final two episodes of HTCCC this weekend, I took some time to search and start reading the books that Hong Dus-ik mentioned or was seen reading just to get a clue of the ending. So far, I found 6:

1. What Men Live By - Leo Tolstoy - which I will discuss below

2. Walden by Henry David Thoreau - I finished What Men Live By this morning and just started reading this tonight but basically, it’s about the author’s experiences over the course of two years of living simple and self-sufficient life in the woods around the shores of Walden Pond.

3. Erotism: Death and Sensuality by George Bataille -still not able to get a digital copy of this since it’s not available on Amazon. But according to the book description, Bataille pursues the themes of taboo and sacrifice, transgression and language, death and sensuality in a challenging perspective. Investigating desire prior to and extending beyond the realm of sexuality, he argues that eroticism is "a psychological quest not alien to death."

4. 헤어진 사람의 품에 얼굴을 묻고 울었다 by 장석주 - I’m still consulting with my teacher what this means and if I got the correct translation. But to my very little understanding, it means “I Cried in the Arms of the Person I Parted With”. I don’t want to put the google translation here because my teacher said not to use it as it is most often incorrect.

5. La Cantatrice chauve' (The Bald Soprano) by Eugène Ionesco - The Bald Soprano is an Absurdist masterpiece by Ionesco about two middle-class couples who spend an evening making meaningless small-talk

6. 에코의 초상 by 김행숙 - if translated, Portrait of Echoes by Kim HaengSuk - I can’t find any books on amazon for this one but this is where he got and recited the “Doorbell” poem.

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What Men Live By: This is a book composing of 4 short stories by Tolstoy:

I. What Men Live By - A story about an angel named Michael punished by God because he disobeyed His order of delivering a soul back. In order to be forgiven, the angel needs to find the answers to three questions. A man, who was a leather crafter, found him sitting in a shrine and took him in as his right-hand man. Over the course of his stay, he was able to get the answer to the three questions while encountering the following people:

1. Learn what dwells in a man - upon meeting the leather crafter’s wife, he found that the answer is “Love has been given to men, to dwell in their hearts” 2. Learn what is not given to man - upon encountering a rich man who wanted a pair of boots to be crafted using the most expensive leather and died after meeting the craftsman, Michael instead crafted the leather to a pair of slippers that the corpse can wear. He found that the answer is “It is not given to men, to know their own needs”. 3. Learn what men live by - upon encountering the twins whose mother is the soul he refused to deliver back (but eventually was sent back to heaven) and was taken under the care of a neighbor, he learned that “Man does not live by care for himself, but by the love for them that is in other’s hearts”.

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II. The Three Questions - A parable about a king who wants to find the answers to what he considers the three most important questions in life:

1. How can I learn to do the right thing at the right time? 2. Who are the people I most need, and to whom should I, therefore pay more attention than to the rest? 3. What affairs are the most important, and need my first attention?

He consults wise men with a promise of a huge sum of money to anyone who could answer the questions but no one can give that satisfies the king. So as a last resort, he goes to a wise hermit for answers only to give him none. Upon staying with the hermit, a wounded person came crawling to them who they nursed back to health. When the stranger awoke, they found out it was someone hired to kill the king but was found out by the guards and was beaten almost to his death. And thus, the hermit explained the answer:

“Remember then, there is only one time that is important — Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else: and the most important affair is, to do him good because for that purpose alone was men sent into this life!”

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III. The Coffee House of Surat - A story of a public discussion between travellers with different religious backgrounds regarding the existence of God, who is the real god and such. Among them was a student of Confucius who didn’t join the discussion until asked, which he said,

"So on matters of faith, it is pride that causes error and discord among men. As with the sun, so it is with God. Each man wants to have a special God of his own, or at least a special God for his native land. Each nation wishes to confine in its own temples Him, whom the world cannot contain. "Can any temple compare with that which God Himself has built to unite all men in one faith and one religion?

"The higher a man's conception of God, the better will he know Him. And the better he knows God, the nearer will he draw to Him, imitating His goodness, His mercy, and His love of man. "Therefore, let him who sees the sun's whole light filling the world, refrain from blaming or despising the superstitious man, who in his own idol sees one ray of that same light. Let him not despise even the unbeliever who is blind and cannot see the sun at all."

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IV - How Much Land Does a Man Need? - A story about a farmer who wanted to own more land and is charmed by the Devil to get more than what he needs. This farmer goes to a place where strange people are and they make him an offer: he can get the land area as big as he wants by marking it starting at daybreak using a spade. If he returns to his starting point by sundown, all the land in his route will be his. But if he does not reach the starting point, he will lose his money and have no land. He started marking the land at daybreak but towards the end, he realizes that he’s too far from his starting point. So he ran and ran and got exhausted and finally arrived at where he started. But out of exhaustion, the farmer drops dead on the ground. His servant buried him in an ordinary grave only six feet long.

Thus, answering the question of how much land does a man need? You only need land as big as your body, to be buried when you die.

--- In relation to HTCC, I think the writers were highly influenced by the idea of these short stories particularly about death, greed, and the love for one’s neighbor. There was one scene that Dus-ik was explaining to Hyejin,

Everyone speaks their own language That's why people misunderstand, misinterpret, and offend each other

Kindness is scary 🤍 There's nothing more terrifying than kindness that you believe will come to an end…

If you ever feel like nobody cares for you 🫂 Remember that it's not true 🌼

What if all fireworks will end And people will go away? I'm sure I'll end up all by myself again… 🌙

The family dynamics is the main highlight of the show, the different ways a parent protects their children from what they inherit from them. On one hand, you have the Jang family who are glad that Huisoo will never get hurt because she inherited her father's powers. Contrasting the Kim family where Mihyun's daily concern is to keep Bongseok grounded and safe away from harm, preventing him from becoming like his father. And then you have the complete opposite with Ganghoon who has to hide his powers to protect his autistic father. You see these three kids navigating through their uniqueness with each other.

For all his cynicism in the beginning, Woojin has always been someone who looks for the good in people. Not to say he doesn’t have a jaded world view— which he obviously does because of all he’s been through— but he still believes in hope. If he did not, he wouldn’t have made it as far as he did.

It’s a little ironic, because even when he tries to be distrusting towards people, he can’t help but look for that someone he can put his faith in. Hyunjun was that person to him in med school, but he betrayed him. And then comes Kim Sabu, giving him a last ray of hope and pretty much turns his life around by bringing him to Doldam.

Woojin appreciates the good in his life that much more because only he knows how difficult it has been for him to reach the point he is now. If someone shows him kindness, he gives the double of it back. His capacity to love despite everything is what makes him my favorite character, I love him </3

So when I heard s2 had different younger leads I was interested. I am so glad I gave it a chance because s2 was much better. I loved the new characters, the chemistry was great, the music was so much better.

Seo woo jin's character was much more compelling and deep, his trauma, him trying to survive but still trying to follow a decent path. I honestly loved him from the first minute.

Cha eun jae was very likable but the dozing off part was a bit off putting to me. But her heart was in the right place and she was open to learning and correcting her mistakes. Which is huge btw.

Yoon Areum was such a sunshine among all the drama. And I loved how they gave her a romance arc rather than making her a comic relief. She was sweet, considerate but also a bit too nosy.

And lastly the bone doctor, bae moon jung. He lived in his own world and seemed like one of the most chill person to ever worked in doldam. He does find himself entangeld with the lives of the new recruits (thanks to kim sabu) which results in a sweet bromance.

I have liked the core staff in doldam in S1, and in S2 it carried further, they came together like a family. And I love how they are shown as extremely skilled (due to them working with high number of trauma cases). No one is clumsy or incompetent and the mistakes felt very human very real.