While Your Idol is my favourite song from KPDH, in my opinion, Free is the masterpiece of the movie.
There's so much to love about Free - from it being musically momentous with perfect lyrics, to the amazingly stunning and clever visuals, to the amazing chemistry between the two romantic leads. Andrew Choi literally stated he had to sing over 40 takes to get the song just right. He needed to convey the feeling that both Rumi and Jinu wanted to kiss but couldn't because of their circumstances - a beautifully tragic romance.
I also love how Jinu lights up the Honmoon blue during the song, showing his pure and honest feelings. It proves the Honmoon can react positively to a demon which makes me believe it will respond positively when sang with pure intentions. Which makes me wonder, if the Hunters sang Takedown which is a song with negative connotations, would that hurt the Honmoon? Free raises that question.
This shot also has to be one of my favourites in the movie because it shows that Jinu considered himself to be nothing more than a monster before he met Rumi. But finally, with the right person and support, perhaps he can see past the flaws he sees in himself and move on. He and Rumi heal each other and Free is the culmination of that.
And of course, through Jinu, Rumi feels that she can freely be herself which she cannot be with anyone else. She fully embraces her demon side with him.
They are two sides of the same coin.
Of course, it does go downhill from here.
A lot of people tend to forget about this scene but it is one of the most important scenes going forward. Jinu doesn't betray Rumi out of malice, he betrays her because everything he thought he believed with her crumbles in this very second.
Gwi-Ma is the very definition of intrusive thoughts and Jinu has been enslaved by it for four hundred years. For a moment, he thought that maybe he could be free, that maybe he could be more, but then Gwi-Ma got his clutches into Jinu and hammered into his brain that he's a monster that doesn't deserve freedom. That he's a horrible person that deserves to suffer for what he did in the past and the choices he made.
Remember that shot from free earlier, the one where his eyes were yellow in the reflection? That's so important because of how much it hammers home Jinu's character.
He sees himself as nothing more than someone who deserves pain and suffering.
But he's also at breaking point.
This is why the conversation between Rumi and Jinu after his betrayal is so important - because Rumi is understanding. Why?
Because she knows Jinu would not betray her without probable cause.
She knows that Jinu at his core, the man underneath with so many scars that hates himself. And again, a lot of this stemmed from the lyrics from free.
"Between this imposter to this monster, I've been lost inside my head. Ain't no choice when all these voices keep me pointing towards no end."
Like I said, Jinu sees himself as nothing more than a monster, that's all he's been tormented with for four hundred years of guilt stemmed from his own self hatred and the voices from Gwi-Ma. So in his mind, a monster might as well be a monster. In his mind, he is a villain and he deserves the pain of being hated.
In his mind, he doesn't deserve the help and freedom Rumi has offered to him.
Can we also talk about the fact that Jinu is literally crying here? A man who is betraying someone with no thoughts or feeling would not be crying or be this emotional.
Rumi sees herself within Jinu as she too sees herself as nothing but a mistake. So after she refuses to get through to him and Zoey and Mira had raised their weapons against her, she loses all hope and confronts Celine.
Two people who consider themselves monsters at wits end.
Of course, in the end, tragedy strikes as they reconcile in This Is What It Sounds Like when Jinu sacrifices himself to save Rumi.
Rumi found her freedom in self acceptance, but Jinu, while not being free physically, did end up being free.
Free from the chains of Gwi-Ma.
And that's all because both Rumi and Jinu were able to heal each other.
So much storytelling stemming from one song.
I highly recommend watching this interview between Maggie Kang (creator for KPDH) and Ahn Hyo-Seop (Voice of Jinu). It gives so much insight into KPDH and the creative vision behind it. Plus other little fun things.
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