This picture at the beginning of each episode doesn’t just represent the title of this drama. To me, it also gives us clues about the story. The blossoming tree, a cherry tree, embodies the blossoming love between our leads, JH and JI because the cherry blossom is often a symbol of love and passion. We often see in K-dramas scenes where the main couple walks under cherry trees in bloom reinforcing the idea that this couple is fated to be together.
Besides this picture not only marks the start of their love, it is also illustrating that their love is bringing new sides of our characters. JI is changing, even her friend noticed that she smiles more and is more creative thanks to her new feelings. It was as if JI has come back to life and before, she was like hibernating. She was not really herself in reality but she had no idea. It is the same for JH who was so traumatized that he only worked and played basket ball during his spare time. Now, for the first time he started flirting with JI, he is definitely more active.
Finally, since their love is connected to a season, the spring, I would say that their love is natural and it can not be controlled by humans and society. That’s why neither JI nor JH can control their emotions and their mutual attraction.
cr. to @Pmyonly (forum soompi)
GS won’t be able to stop it… His fight will be pointless, nevertheless he has no idea about it.
The second aspect in this picture is the moon. I have the impression that their love is also very discreet and even secret because of the presence of the moon, since forbidden lovers usually meet during the night. I am not saying that their love is forbidden, far from it, it is just that it will grow unnoticed by the others. Notice that until now, no one is aware of their connection. Sure, in the next episode, her friend will see JI with JH, yet I am quite sure that JI will never tell her what really happened between her and JH. JI has no idea what she is feeling right now.
Notice that they often meet during the night, like for example in this scene: (cr. to @Pmyonly, forum soompi)
This gives the impression that they are secret lovers… but they are not. The night is the only moment where they can talk to each other without getting noticed. Furthermore, since I have started watching K-dramas, I have noticed that we often see a scene where the FL and ML are together while it is snowing. The reason is simple: there is this belief in South Korea that if you are out in the first snowfall of the year with someone you like, true love will blossom between you. In the drama, the characters (f. ex. JI’s sister) mentioned that this could be the last snow of the year, hence we could think that this scene has not the same meaning. Yet, I doubt it.
For me, this scene underlines one more time how natural their “attraction” to each other is. This scene indicates that they are fated to be together, this will be true love. Furthermore in my opinion it doesn’t even matter if it is the last snow or not, the most important aspect is that we shouldn’t forget that both protagonists have been hibernating so far, hence this explains why they couldn’t meet in the first snowfall, they are late because of their past. The “last snow” marks the start of their blooming love. Moreover, the spring symbolizes birth hence everything is new to JI that’s why she can not clearly recognize her feelings.
In the last scene of the episode 4, the viewer can see another illustration of the title:
JI and JH are talking to each other in the car escaping the notice of people
Above her head, you can see the reflection of the blooming cherry tree, an indication that her heart has been moved. So the director is linking this scene to the first picture shown above. In that scene, we shouldn’t forget that she is actually admitting herself to JH that she is so glad that she got to know him. In this confession, she definitely uses the expression “I like”. This was a huge step for her and gives “hope” for JH. That’s why he admits that he has bad desires. Here again, he clearly reveals that he wants more.
Anyway, this taking is important because, like I had mentioned, this tree symbolizes the return of life and a change in JI’s heart. When JI was driving with GS, we never saw the blooming cherry tree. She is getting closer to her inner feelings.
I sense that she is reluctant to give in because she still perceives GS as a good man and doesn’t want to be the bad person: if she broke up with him, she would betray him. However, her judgement of GS will change next week because she will realize that GS is quite manipulative. Notice that in the preview, GS’s words seem to indicate that she is the bad one, making her feel guilty because she doesn’t want to get married. I sense that at some point she will get aware that GS has been trying to make her and JH feel guilty and bad all the time, while in reality he was never a good man from the start.
He can open or close the doors to Heaven As we can see, he is far superior to KD as he can change his form and his function without getting noticed by humans and angels. KD can not recognize him, until he shows his original face. JKW didn’t recognize him either. He is the one who gives orders to KD and advises him as well.
2. Kim Dan
Our angel Kim Dan seems to prefer animals over humans because they are much easier to understand. I do think that he does resent humans to a certain extent, and this could be explained with his past life. The only human he shows a certain empathy to is LYS. But I had already explained earlier that LYS’s behavior reminds me more of a hurt animal that shows its claws because of the pain. The more hurt the “beast” is, the more violent and brutal it gets. Yet, we were shown that Kim Dan has no idea about his past and his life as human. Yet his past is definitely connected to LYS, but he is unaware of it.
Right now, KD is on a mission (kim.dan@goodmission.com). As you can see, his email address reveals a lot, it is for the good of KD and LYS in reality. In 100 days, LYS must have found love. Striking is that the mission never said what kind of love KD should find for her. He immediately believes that he needs to find a human for her. The more time KD spends with LYS, the more she softens and relies on him. She starts trusting him… We know that LYS resents God a lot. She prayed in the past that God would make her wish come true but it never happened. She was even willing to offer her rip, but what she got in return was that she lost her sight. In this scene,
episode 4 / 40:20
we hear from Ni Na that LYS used to say that talents were given from above and they should give it their all so they wouldn’t be an embarrassment to those who could not be there. This shows that LYS was very religious and connected her faith to the ballet. As conclusion, she no longer believes in God due to her tragedies in her life. So what if the real true mission is not to find true love but love and faith in God? There is no coincidence that KD brought her to a temple where she can make a wish because by wishing something, it means that you acknowledge the deity’s existence. She is on her way to find her faith back. That’s why LYS will be able to get back her title “angel”. Back then, she used to be like an angel: polite, nice, loving and selfless (remember her rescuing a small boy, KD).
KD is a good angel hence his wings are white and glowing. They illustrate his innocence and purity. He might overstep his boundaries as he often acts like a judge: he punished the driver by ruining his car and letting the dogs run away. His judgement is lacking because he only looks at the surface. However, his actions are quite selfless, they illustrate his deep sense for justice and his big empathy for weak creatures (dog, cats and LYS as a visually impaired person). LYS’s despair moves him.
To sum up, KD is associated to selflessness, empathy and huge sense of justice, yet his biggest flaw is his “false image” about humans. He is too superficial in his judgement. Therefore when he acts around LYS, he shows more empathy towards the staff than towards LYS. The latter is a human but behaves terribly, that’s why he trusts more the others: he doesn’t perceive the evil intention of the aunt. He judges people by their manners and appearance. He rather scolds LYS for her rude behavior. All this underlines his naivety. Furthermore in the episode 3, he often uses the words “humans” implying that he is different from them and they are terribly flawed. That’s why he is turned into a human for his mission. That way, he will learn to differentiate more… the real evil humans are not visible. He is definitely too naive and trusting. Don’t forget that he asked Ni Na if JKW was a good man. When the ballerina replied that she couldn’t tell if the artistic director was good or bad, he was just cool, KD thought that this was a good sign.
Notice that KD is really on his own all the time. His superior doesn’t help him hence KD has no home. He had to sleep on the bench, until he met LYS again. His superior just gives him some advice and that’s it. He has no financial background (huge house, people he can call and ask for help aso). Finally, I would like to point out that KD has no control over the appearance of the wings. My supposition was that they appeared because LYS was about to get injured. His wings protected LYS.
3. The artistic director: Ji Kang Woo
episode 4 – the end scene
Only in the episode 4, we discover that he is also an angel. However, his wings look different. First, we only see the shadow of the wings. As you can see, the wings are not visible in the next picture and this indicates that JKW is a different angel. It definitely looks like JKW is a fallen angel, especially when the beholder pays attention to his words. I will give more further details later. Just like KD, he also has a mission: he has to make her heart beat again.
episode 3 / 42:11
He is inspired by his past love Matilda that’s why he watched a video of her. Matilda loved ballet that’s why he believes that bringing back LYS to the stage is his mission. Once she dances again, she will be moved and her heart will beat again.
The mission sounds similar to KD’s mission but there is a huge difference. KD’s goal is following: By bringing love back to her life, LYS will be able to find peace and happiness. JKW’s mission can not end well because the more he pushes her back to Fantasia and to the stage, the more he endangers her life due to the greed of her relatives and directors. KD told JKW that he wanted LYD to find happiness to which JKW replied that he had no idea what this meant. As conclusion, this mission can be considered as evil, however on the surface it looks like it is a good proposition.
He is offering fame, wealth and power to LYS which actually corresponds to the devil’s temptation. Sure, he needs to protect LYS from harm, since she has not returned to Fantasia therefore on the surface, KD and JKW’s actions look similar: protecting LYS. Nevertheless power, money, greed, envy are the consequences of this mission. That’s why LYS refused his offer in the first place and gave him money… because indirectly that’s what he was indirectly proposing. Becoming a ballerina and taking the control of that company can not be differentiated.
When we pay attention to JKW’s words and actions, the beholder can notice that JKW sounds like the devil. He advises Ni Na to be selfish, to put a good fight against LYS, not to focus on others (episode 4). He definitely shows no empathy for the young mother on the stage. He is able to convince Ni Na to stop protecting others. Little by little, he is leading Ni Na to the dark side in my opinion. She admires him because, although he seems to prefer LYS, he lets her believe that she has the chance to become the star of the new show. Ni Na believes his words and doesn’t realize that he is misleading as his primary goal is to bring back LYS to the stage. His evilness is not perceptible at first sight, just like Ni Na’s father who seems so gentle and kind, while in reality he lets his wife and daughter RN do the dirty work.
JKW is definitely obsessed with LYS because she resembles his past love. There is a huge difference between KD and the artistic director. First, KD has no memories from his past life, only the viewers know that LYS saved his life, when he was a child. Her words before the car fell from the bridge triggered something in him. He didn’t know why he saved her but he had to. Her words arose emotions in him. JKW remembers his past:
episode 4
The loss of the woman he loved. She was killed by saving his life. As we can see, both women did something similar: they rescued a person.
The question is now: who was he back then? A human? I doubt because if he was, he wouldn’t remember his past life. I have the impression that he was an angel too, but an angel of death, the one who took the soul of humans. This means, he had a superior status than the actual KD who only took care of the souls of animals. I guess, he might have fallen in love with Matilda who was supposed to die. By disobeying the order, her destiny was changed and she sacrificed herself for him. My theory is that because he couldn’t bear the loss of Matilda, the real Devil might have tempted him with an offer: she would come back to life, he could meet her again. But we know that deals with Satan/devils are full of tricks… like f. ex. LYS looks like Matilda but she is a different person.
Moreover, don’t you find it strange that each time, LYS’s life was exposed to danger, he always arrived too late? KD was the one who saved her in the car accident, he was the one who protected her, when the chandelier fell… Each time, the artistic director came too late. Yet, JKW is not aware of all this. He believes to be the right person for LYS because he has the means and the knowledge. He never corrected LYS, when she asked him if he was the one who rescued her? She recognized his hand but he never saved her life. Secondly, he always appeared next to a crime site (the car accident, the chandelier incident, the rocks lying on the road on their way back after visiting her parents’ urns. He gives the impression that he is protecting her… yet he is often too late.
By comparing KD and JKW, I observe that the latter is richer and has more power than KD. He is able to get any information he wants. He just needs to call someone. This is important because this represents the power of the devil. Money, connection, power are the sources of evilness because they are linked to temptation. For KD, it is different. He can only rely on his abilities (his good qualities: his honesty, his empathy, his strong sense of justice aso).
I know that a lot of people dislike the scene between Ni Na and JKW but the more scenes we get, the more it becomes obvious that JKW is leading Ni Na to the path of evilness and self-destruction. In the scene above, where Ni Na and JKW are together, he reminds her that she needs to be even more selfish: “You’re still a long way from being selfish”. So at some point, she will hurt LYS herself. She is losing her purity little by little. Don’t forget that Ni Na has already be introduced in an environment of violence and pain. We saw her killing a cat (which was an accident). Nevertheless, this is no coincidence. Then we discover that she is suffering from an eating disorder which outlines her willingness to hurt someone. Her hands are not clean and she will do much worse in my opinion.
I am quite sure that JKW was jealous of KD, when he saw the couple kissing that’s why he reacted by showing his black wings. The more time KD spends with LYS, the more the latter will fall for our protagonist… at some point, JKW will be the one who reveals KD’s true nature to LYS in order to separate our couple.
So now, this is the time to reveal the identity of the 4th angel.
Mr. Jo and LYS, episode 1
Mr. Jo said that she was like an angel. She used to shine so brightly. Sure, this is connected to the ballet. But deep down, I think that Mr. Jo wanted to see her huge smile oozing happiness and gentleness. Back then, she was a really nice person. By spending more and more time with KD, she will gradually change as she trusts him. He will bring her true personality to light, while Ni Na will become her shadow embodying evilness for real. She was like an angel in the past because she once rescued the human Kim Dan.
The episodes from this week makes it clear that KIW is more obsessed with Yoon Ma Ri’s face than with the person herself. First, he wants to change her face. Many people warn him that the surgery represents a high risk for Yoon Ma Ri but he doesn’t care. Furthermore his wife even declares to her husband that he has never really known her. Finally, this scene reinforces this idea. KIW is upset after hearing some harsh words from his father. In order to calm down, he looks first at their couple’s picture.
episode 16: notice that he even caresses Yoon Ma Ri in that picture
But this is not enough. That’s why he pushes the couple picture.
episode 16.
Behind the photo there is another picture. We see Kang In Wook as a child hugged by his mother who resembles Yoon Ma Ri. This action from Kang In Wook reveals two things. Only looking at his mother has an effect on him. Yoon Ma Ri’s picture is not enough. This scene illustrates that Kang In Wook has always been longing for his mother, for maternal love.
But why did our antihero get so upset? Just before, his father had not just insulted him. He had actually abused him mentally with these words.
The father knows perfectly well that his son has abandonment issues and inferiority complex. By telling him that he was not good and that’s why he was abandoned by his mother hurt KIW a lot. And this is the reason why I came to this theory that KIW’s father is abusing his son mentally because he is actually covering up his crime. From my point of view, KIW has been brainwashed by his own father who told him that his mother abandoned him by committing suicide. We heard that she shot herself in the head.
However, I suspect that in reality his mother tried to protect her son, she came back to take him and her husband shot her. She was killed by him. And his own son could have realized that hence he told KIW these lies. He knew what his mother meant to him. By telling him that she committed suicide therefore she abandoned him, the chairman hurt KIW so much so that he wouldn’t pay attention to the details and his own memories. That’s why the father can insult KIW as weak. He expected, KIW would come to resent his mother for leaving him behind.
The reason why I suspect that his mother was killed is this:
Notice that her wound is on her chest and not on her head. Secondly the way she is holding her gun. In an earlier episode, I had seen the blood on the chest but I thought, this could have been a mistake. However, this time the scene was much longer. KIW never saw his mother’s suicide, he only heard the gun shot. And notice that in the preview, he is trying to act like “his mother”, point the gun to his head….
from the preview
The reasons why I suspect the father for killing his wife are the following:
– He was bothered that YMR looked like his wife… he was afraid that this might trigger KIW’s memory of this night
– Secondly, he was happy that his son would treat YMR like he did with his wife. Her running away revealed that the lies he had told KIW had worked.
– Furthermore he talked about betrayal to KIW once while he was hunting. In my opinion, he was talking about betrayal as if he had experienced it himself. So the mother came back to take her son… and she would leave him for real.
– Finally, he shows so much concern for YMR. Why? Because she could trigger something KIW which would make him realize that he had been manipulated by his father all along.
Therefore I come to the conclusion that KIW could be shot by his father, as the latter is trying to kill YMR. That’s how he will realize what happened back then. Now, we know where KIW went in the first episode. The villa looked a lot like the villa YMR was sent after KIW took her from the hospital. The secretary told him that this villa is used by the chairman. That’s how KIW will realize what true love is. His mother loved him so much that she risked her own life to take him away from his father. Kang In Wook can only find peace, the moment he realizes that his mother never abandoned him. Only then, the abusive husband can let go of his wife. He will realize that he has never loved his wife, in reality he was just longing for maternal love. If my theory is correct, then the discovery of the past will play a huge part.
Episode 1: our main protagonist Kim Soo Hyun during a training as assassin.
The first episode starts with a young boy running in the woods in Russia. Although we don’t know the child’s identity, right from the start the viewer realizes that the boy with strange blue eyes is trained to become an assassin because of the rules told by an adult, the boy’s master:
Rule number 1: Never reveal a client’s identity to anyone
Rule number 2: Never keep a witness alive
Rule number 3: Stay alive
It is clear that during his training, the boy is remembering his master’s rules, until he has to face a dog. Pavel orders Kim Soo Hyun to kill the dog.
While watching this scene, I couldn’t help myself associating this terrible training to the famous experiment of the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov with dogs. First, Pavel sounds so similar to Pavlov, then we hear and see a dog. For further explanations, you can read about it there: https://educationalgames.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/pavlov/readmore.html
The Russian scientist developed the classical conditioning/Pavlovian Conditioning and in the K-drama, we see how Pavel is using the same method in order to turn our main character into a killer. Yet, in this scene Pavel fails as the boy refuses to kill the dog.
The reason is quite simple: Kim Soo Hyun perceives himself as a dog (see the first picture above) hence he can not shoot his “parent”. Besides, both have blue eyes reinforcing their similarities. The “dog” Kim Soo Hyun refuses to obey its master hence the latter punishes the boy. Yet in the long run, our main character can not escape his fate: he becomes a professional killer. On the other hand, his stubbornness to defy Pavel’s order in this scene allowed him to keep dogs around him. His closeness to animals and especially dogs let him become a veterinarian on the surface.
However, the more episodes we see, the more human Kim Soo Hyun becomes. He starts protecting more and more people: first Kang Seul Ki, a young girl whom KSH refused to eliminate, although she was a witness in a murder.
Later, he takes care of Pavel who is suffering from dementia like a good son and even tries to protect Pavel till the end. The assassin Pavel regrets his decision to have turned KSH into a killer and advises him to live like a normal person. Then he doesn’t kill Tae Soo and the witness, although he could have.
We see that little by little, KSH’s conditioning is disappearing. First, he started questioning Pavel’s rules. Finally, Kim Soo Hyun even refuses to follow his client’s order (episode 6). We can see that KSH is no longer following orders. The question is now, if Kim Soo Hyun will be able to take control of his life, as so far he has lived more like a dog obeying to his masters: Pavel, Philip Ahn and the clients.
The congressman Seo Won Seok, Tae Soo and the chairman Do Jae Hwan
However, Kim Soo Hyun is not the only “dog” in this story.
Episode 5: the congressman Seo Won Seok talking to Tae Soo
Notice the words used by the congressman. He never mentions the word “dog”, nevertheless he is referring to this animal as he keeps talking about a leash. The man describes himself as a dog who did the dirty work for his master: “blood on our hands”. The master gave him the order “kill it”. The beholder gets aware that just like Kim Soo Hyun, Seo Won Seok is unwilling to remain like a dog. He wants to become the master himself, which is different from just taking control of his own life. So Seo Won Seok’s goal is different: his greed and ambition are his motivations, while Kim Soo Hyun desires to protected his loved ones.
episode 6: Tae Soo with the chairman Do Jae Hwan
While the chairman Jo is looking at his hand, he claims that his position as master should never been questioned. He considers himself superior to Tae Soo and the congressman Seo Won Seok. He is not just a master, he is even the owner of the dog. That’s why this terrible man has no problem to order Tae Soo to get rid of the “dog” Seo Won Seok as he is no longer obeying his orders. The master will never dirty his hands, although he is the real murderer and mastermind.
Tae Soo doesn’t question Do Jare Hwan’s position at all. He accepts it as a normality. But will he remain by his side, once he realizes that he could have the same fate than Seo Won Seok. Do Jae Hwan keeps saying that at some point, he needs to get rid of people, since they represent a thread and a burden.
The scientist Ko Hyeon Woo
episode 3: the scientist Ko Hyeon Woo is willing to leave the company because he wants to protect his research. He thinks that only the doctor Joo Young Hoon abused his position.
On the surface, the scientist might appear as a good man because he values the lives of the children. However, it becomes clear that he has always viewed these children as his “dogs”, they represent the result of his researches. That’s why he has no problem to use Kim Soo Hyun, one of his “children” to get revenge on the chairman Do Jae Hwan and his accomplices. Sure, he resents KSH even more because he is biologically related to the chairman Do. However, in the episode 6, he is willing to use Kang Seul Ki in order to get more info about the killer he hired. He knows Kang Seul Ki’s fate but he doesn’t feel sorry at all. Furthermore, he has no problem to attempt to kill one of the orphans, Do Hyun Jin/Lee Young Eun. He behaves like a master and treats the children from that orphanage like his puppets. He is in reality not different from the chairman Do.
As conclusion: As time passes on, the killer behaves more and more like a human, whereas the opposite happens to the scientist Ko, the congressman Seo and the chairman Do. In the name of revenge or ambition or greed, these men have no problem to get rid of people.
This K-drama deals about a lawyer, Choi Do Hyun who is trying to find the truth about his father’s crime. Our main protagonist believes that his father has been innocent, however the latter had confessed his crime from the start. This K-drama started airing just three weeks ago on TVN and so far, it is quite entertaining because of the script and the acting. Lee Joon Ho as Choi Do Hyun and Yoo Jae Myung as the detective Ki Choon Ho are doing a terrific job.
What caught my attention was the title “Confession” because after 6 episodes, it becomes clear that the main topic of this K-drama is indeed confession. In each episode, the viewer sees different kind of confessions.
Han Joon Gu and his confessions
In the first episode, the criminal Han Joon Gu kept calling the police in order to tease them as they had not caught the murderer. Indirectly, the police and the prosecution used these calls as evidence that he was in fact the killer.
But at his trial, he retracted his confession. A retracted confession is a statement made by an accused person before the trial begins, by which he / she admits to have committed the offence, but which he/she repudiate at the trial. This gave the impression that the police could have use violence in order to obtain his confession.
episode 1 the accused Han Joon Gu
Our male protagonist is able to defend his client so that Han Joon Gu is found not guilty. Then 5 years later, a similar crime occurs and all the evidence is pointing out Han Joon Gu. The latter had just left the prison a few days ago. The lawyer is now facing a dilemma: he knows now that Han Joon Gu had killed the victim Yang Ae Ran 5 years ago but he is well aware that this time his client is innocent.
episode 3: Han Joon Gu confessing his crime
This time, his confession creates a scandal. The double jeopardy protects him from being prosecuted for the murder. He has been found innocent due to lack of evidence 5 years ago and now he is once again released. His lawyer with the detective’s help could prove his innocence for the second murder. Besides, the prosecution can not press charges against Han Joon Gu for the same crime despite his confession.
2. The nurse Cho
She is Choi Do Hyun’s second client. The prosecution accuses the nurse of committing a professional mistake but later changes the charges. Now, the patient’s death is considered as a murder. During the trial, the nurse remains quiet so that her silence is used as evidence against her. Only at the final hearing, she confesses her crime explaining how it happened. The victim had sexually assaulted her in the past. Her confession contrasts so much to Han Joon Gu’s confession as it shows the pain of the defendant.
episode 5
Yet, this doesn’t end here as the nurse confesses to Choi Do Hyun’s friend Han Yu Ri that 10 years ago no one asked her anything, when Han Yu Ri’s father died. So her words imply that back then a crime occurred and she was involved in the death of Han Yu Ri’s father.
3. Choi Pil Soo and his confession
episode 6 : Choi Pil Soo is holding a gun, there is a witness and the crime has just happened.
Unlike in the other cases, the confession is made right after the crime, when the detective Ki Choon Ho arrives at the crime scene. Choi Do Hyun’s father admits the crime immediately without any emotion. Besides, he never gives an explanation or a motive for the murder. Furthermore, after his confession, he remains silence and even cuts ties with his own son. Yet, it becomes clear that Choi Pil Soo admitted the crime in exchange for his son’s surgery. Choi Do Hyun had a heart transplant shortly after his father’s trial. Here there is a conspiracy where the confession was used as the best evidence in order to cover up the real murderers and the motive, corruption.
You might wonder why I will talk about the drama Lawless Lawyer from 2018 next to Love in Sadness. First, I would like to recommend this drama as it was very good. The other reason is that I wrote many analyses about this drama in a forum and thought that I should post these here too. Moreover, with these two dramas I intent to sensitize the viewers about the camera position as people usually pay more attention to the story and the dialogue than the visuals.
Right in the episode 1, we had a scene with the staircase where the statue of Lady Justice is standing. I already sensed the importance of this scene as there was no dialogue and the scene was quite long. I immediately thought, this should be perceived as a metaphor of Cha Moon Sook’s (CMS) actual situation.
episode 1: the judge Cha Moon Sook
On the surface, it looks like CMS has always dedicated her life to justice. Notice the position of the sun. It shines right above the statue of justice standing in the middle of the stair case which creates the impression that justice has been her religion. All her life evolves around justice so that we can come to the conclusion that this place is a temple. This explains too why CMS has such a good reputation as judge hence she is about to be designated as judge for the Supreme Court. However, this scene ends with this taking.
episode 1
Not only she turns away from Lady Justice indicating that there was a change in her life, but she also turns her back on the statue implying that she has a different goal in her life. Although this scene appeared in the first episode, we discover later that she was the one who sent the notebook to Bong Sang Pil in order to use him to get rid of the people involved in her schemes hence this scene mirrors that CMS had always been aiming higher than justice. Moreover, she had already prepared all the moves BSP would do. She would let him push AOJ to commit more crimes so that he could be cornered. She knew that BSP would attempt to send her former minions to jail so that she would be able to become a judge for the Supreme Court.
CMS with her minions (from the left to the right): Ahn Oh Joo, Jang Sang Ik, CMS in the middle, Son Sung Sik, Han Tae Kyung, Nam Soo Ja, Go In Doo,
Here, we have the inauguration of CBH’s statue. CBH was CMS’s father. Unlike in the former scene, there is no sun and the statue of justice is now sharing her space with the statue of a former judge. Furthermore, you will notice the huge difference between the two statues. While the goddess of justice is blind, the judge is not. He is even wearing glasses indicating that the judge was not fair as he can be influenced by money or power. Secondly, he is not holding a scale but a book. This second element reinforces the impression that CBH was not a fair judge but more a dictator who used the laws for his own advantage. His hammer and the law book were his weapons. The statue of the judge mirrors the true personality of CBH: he was a tyrant. So this inauguration outshines that CMS has already changed her strategy. She will use the law like a tyrant but under the disguise of Lady Of justice. Here we see that the minions around her are gathered differently. Jang Sang Ik and An Oh Ju are standing under the Lady of Justice, while Son Sung Sik (president of the bank), Han Tae Kyung (editor-in-chief), Nam Soon Ja (unofficial contact) and Go In Doo (lawyer and ex-judge) are standing on the other side, right under CBH’s statue. Since SSS ended up in jail and now NSJ has been arrested, I can imagine that this will happen to the others as well. I suspect that AOJ and JSI will play an important role in CMS’s fall as witnesses, hence they are standing under the statue of Lady of Justice.
CMS in a different episode
Compared to the former picture, it becomes even more evident that in this scene CMS is acting more like a king, ruling like a dictator. This represents the peak of her career. The position of the sun underlines this interpretation. Nevertheless, the other huge difference is that she is alone. Since we know that her goal was to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, she had to get rid of her minions. Now, we can understand that this picture symbolizes her real goal: she has used The 7 club as a tool. She never cared for them, her dream was to achieve what her father had failed to realize. However, the Lady of Justice is still standing and CMS is seen between these two statues. Her position illustrates that she keeps the appearances of a real judge. In the name of Justice, she gives sentences as she pleases, see f. ex. the death sentence for the murderer of a woman. However, we see her looking at her father’s statue which unveil her true intention and personality. She is not different from her father. Her true religion was her father. She seems to have a inferiority complex concerning her father. CMS wants to prove to him that she is his rightful daughter and she is even better than him.
In the episode 13, we have two scenes with the staircase:
The interview
CMS with the journalist
Notice the changes. First. there is no sun. Then the the head of the lady of Justice is hidden and finally, we see CMS sitting under the statue of her father. As we observe, CMS has dropped the appearances of a fair and humble judge. She no longer acts as if she was serving the Lady of Justice. Her speech reminds me a lot a speech held by Hitler who always told that he would change Germany for the better and used the laws to persecute his enemies: “I think, there is always pain that comes with change. If I become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, I’ll overcome the pain that follows after ending the old generation. Using justice as foundation, I’ll work hard to innovate the law of the Republic of Korea”. Her speech reveals that she intents to use her position to undermine the constitution of Korea and rule as a true tyrant. The irony is that she presents herself as a selfless martyr who will suffer for the others, whereas the opposite will happen in reality. The old generation means the end of the constitution. The scene ends with this shot.
CMS under her father’s statue
Her father’s statue is in the background reinforcing the feeling that she will be a ruthless and cold-hearted dictator. But since there was no sun, only a spot illuminating CBH’s statue, we could see it as an indication that CMS’s reign as tyrant is not real. She is not appointed yet.
The appearance of BSP at the stair case
Bong Sang Pil played by Lee Joon Ki
2. This time, BSP is the one who enters the temple. Just like CMS, he is alone which reflects his own life. He has always been a lonely fighter, someone who was determined to seek justice. CMS is wondering if he is seeking revenge or justice. On the other hand, the sun shines this time unlike in the scene mentioned just before which represents an answer to the villain’s question. Furthermore the long fight of BSP represents the return of the real justice. This scene marks the return of the real justice and at some point, CBH’s statue will be removed as CMS’s crimes will be revealed. The great judge is sent to prison and her good reputation is ruined forever. This drama was inspired by the scandal concerning the former president of South Korea, Park Geun Hye who was sentenced to 24 years in prison due to corruption and abuse of power. She was the daughter of the 3rd president of South Korea and the latter has been criticized for his dictatorship and undemocratic ways. As you can see, the visuals are quite important because they give more info than it meets the eye.
But now let’s take a closer look at the camera position in the K-drama Love In Sadness that is actually airing. Striking is that the director often uses a duplication of a character.
YMR in episode 1
By duplicating Yoon Ma Ri, the director wanted to convey an important message. Notice that the second version is fading away, she is disappearing. And this is no coincidence. YMR is about to lose herself, her soul by remaining by her husband’s side. She is not even allowed to choose her own clothes. She lives trapped in a cage hence the window with the bare reflects her actual position: she is a prisoner. She is not even allowed to paint outdoors which explains why her latest painting looks so gloomy and depressing. She can no longer paint as she has run out of energy and inspiration. So this explains why the second YMR is disappearing, she is about to lose herself and her soul.
SJW in the episode 13
The director had used the same special effect with SJW in an earlier episode so this is the second time that SJW is shown twice. Here, SJW is eating alone in his dining room. YMR wants to keep her distance from him until he knows how to face YMR. She will wait for him until he will solely think of her with this face. This taking should be perceived that way: the old SJW is slowly disappearing, the man who loved WHK but was hurt by her. As time passes on, SJW starts missing YMR more and more. This taking reinforces the loneliness of the surgeon but also his need for YMR’s presence. In this scene, there is no dialogue at all however the director is trying to convey SJW’s inner thoughts and feelings. Just like in the other scene mentioned above, the camera is placed behind a glass so that the viewer can feel that SJW has been living in a prison that he created himself.
KIW with his gun: episode 14
Before I start analyzing this scene, it is important to put this scene in the context. Finally KIW has been able to locate YMR’s mother. He even heard that YMR had been there just before his arrival and he even missed her for a few minutes. Moreover, he has realized the connection between YMR and the surgeon SJW because YMR’s mother mentioned the presence of her son-in-law. KIW is upset and even jealous that YMR seems to have replaced him with another man, he already suspects the doctor. We shouldn’t forget that KIW had a nightmare a few nights ago (episode 13), where he dreamt, he was running after his bride YMR, only to witness the appearance of another groom. When he is finally able to reach YMR, he identifies the groom as SJW and is surprised to discover that the bride running away was WHK which confused him.
KIW’s nightmare: he has already perceived the truth unconsciously: YMR has WHK’s face.
SJW with YMR: they are already in love
KIW is sure that the bride running away from him is YMR
KIW is shocked to see WHK’s face.
So now our antihero KIW knows that there is a man around YMR therefore KIW returns home, totally upset and enraged. Even YMR’s mother dared to call the other man her son-in-law. KIW has the impression that his worst nightmare has become true. However, he still doesn’t know that YMR has WHK’s face. Just like in the other duplication scenes, the camera is put behind the window, we can also see the frame reinforcing the idea that KIW lives in his own world, a prison he has created himself. So after his arrival, he takes the gun from the dresser. If you look at the first picture of this scene, KIW is seen twice. However, it changes a little because the two pictures reveals that the duplication is incomplete. It was as if there were three KIW standing, yet the two other reflections are partially visible. This mirrors his own inner conflict: will he use the gun or not? Notice that his gaze is always directed at the gun. So far, KIW has never revealed this side of him in front of other people. Only YMR could see this terrible and dangerous side. But his rage and violence is so huge that at the end, he is resolved to use the gun.
The final taking of the same scene: KIW with his gun
That’s why the viewer sees this duplication at the end. KIW is determined to use violence in order to catch his wife. To me, the second reflection represents the monster in him which is now visible. The snake that has been hiding behind his charisma and his mysterious aura is now shown to the world. He doesn’t care anymore about his reputation. This explains why KIW wears his leather jacket and threatens HSH and later JHR. He is even more vicious with JHR because he resents her for her manipulation and her arrogance.
This is when he aims his gun at JHR’s face
Unlike in the former taking, KIW is now aiming his gun at a real person, while before he was just aiming at the window. To conclude, the effect of duplication is often used by this director in order to let the viewers perceive what the characters are thinking and feeling but also to reflect their own situation. All of them are living in a cage, caught by fear and by their own past and emotions. The only difference is that YMR’s cage was not self-created.
episode 11: in the foreground, there is a small bottle with a branch of Rosemary in it.
Since this painting is so different from the other creations of our heroine, I kind of neglected this painting. However, this picture is important because it outlines the huge gap between YMR and her husband KIW. From YMR’s perspective, this painting could be perceived in two different ways:
She is the lost ship using the bottle with the rosemary as she is sending a SOS. Yes, the sea could symbolize KIW trying to control YMR. The fury of the sea and the storm fits to KIW’s rage and violence. She could drown if the power of the sea is too strong illustrating that if she is caught, she might die.
The second meaning is different. Since YMR’s name resembles the plant rosemary, the bottle could embody YMR leaving KIW, the huge ship. The plant is so small compared to the ship which mirrors KIW’s power and wealth. Don’t forget that I had already pointed out that SJW and YMR are connected to nature, while KIW is associated through his fortune to civilization. This picture not only represents her last attempt to escape from KIW’s claws, it also symbolizes the despair of YMR. She is even willing to risk her own life as she has no idea if she will be found and rescued. The picture illustrates her courage as she entrusts her destiny to nature and chance.
Concerning our antihero, KIW interprets this painting in the opposite way: KIW is the rosemary in the bottle, while YMR is the ship. In his eyes, the ship is abandoning the rosemary. He doesn’t see the struggle of the titling ship. For him, the painting illustrates the abandonment and betrayal of YMR. Like he kept saying before, without her he can not live and this picture illustrates his own thoughts. He still sees himself as a powerless man depending on his wife. The huge waves and the storm represents the world menacing him: his father, his step-mother and his other enemies. Without her guidance, KIW considers himself as lost and he needs her by his side so that he can overcome this dangerous world. But if we see it from his perspective, his interpretation indicates his blindness. He overlooks that the rosemary hasn’t been thrown away, but it was put in a bottle as a protection so that it can not drown. Moreover, like I had mentioned it before, he overlooks the problem that the ship is facing. He also ignores the significance of this gesture: titling ship asking for help. As conclusion, KIW’s interpretation of that painting outshines KIW’s lack of self-awareness. He doesn’t see himself as a dangerous and violent man, somehow he seems to be trapped in the past, as if he was a little boy.
I guess that when KIW saw the painting with the cistus, he only perceived YMR as a small and weak flower that needed protection in a dark world. He never associated himself to the dead wood, rather he connected it to the dangerous world (his father, her mother’s illness)
To sum up, the interpretation of a painting is also influenced by the beholder’s mentality. Sure, if we know more about the painter, the beholder is able to understand the emotions and the message of the creator, yet the beholder is free to interpret the picture differently, I mean, to add a different meaning/message. In the end, there is no right or wrong, by analyzing a picture.
SJW’s mother is gardening while talking to Yoon Ma Ri.
In the episode 14, we discover why the writer chose to name this drama “Love in Sadness”. In this episode, YMR visits SJW’s mother, Im Yun Hwa (IYH), as she is the director of a nursing facility. Here, IYH shows YMR her garden with her flowers. YMR is now able to understand why SJW loves flowers so much. He got his passion from his mother. In this scene, the mother chooses to plant a gentian and this is what she says to her guest:
Notice that the gentian here is purple and not dark blue
Most of the species have beautiful blue vivid petals.
These words and her action reveal a lot about SJW’s mother. She doesn’t perceive YMR as a burden because she has WHK’s face. In fact, she views the young woman as a good omen. In my opinion, when she explains the origin of the gentian in her garden, she was making an analogy. YMR is like the gentian that suddenly appeared in her garden. No one expected her appearance but she had an impact on SJW’s life and heart. Then during their conversation, IYH explains the meaning of the gentian, love in sadness. For her, if a person can embrace someone’s sorrow, then it is true love. Then she adds that her son is looking for a love like that. With her words, IYH is trying to covey to YMR that her son truly loves her. In this scene, we can see how much IYH loves her son and she wants to make sure that YMR doesn’t misunderstand SJW because he gave her WHK’s face. The viewer already knows that YMR is well aware of SJW’s deep feelings for her. Due to the former episodes, we had the impression that the writer chose this title because of tragic loves (the story of Hyacinth and Adonis) and had more tragedy in his mind. However with this revelation, I came to realize that the writer had a different intention, as love in Sadness has a different meaning: true love. Notice that all this time, SJW, KIW, HSH and JHR have been struggling due to a loved one. But were they really in love? Was it love or obsession or illusion or self-deception?
SJW thought that he loved WHK because he accepted everything from her and never argued with her. He actually fell more in love with her face and lived in an illusion as he never wanted to see WHK for whom she really was. To me, SJW didn’t truly love WHK because he faked happiness. Like IYH said, true love is when a person can embrace his/her partner’s sorrow. Right now, we have the impression that WHK was a selfish and ruthless woman but I believe that WHK might have been hiding a huge secret from SJW and his friends. JHR thinks that WHK had an abortion but just before the accident happened, she had cold hands and she complained about her stomach. I have the feeling that WHK could have been dying. If my theory is correct, she didn’t want to burden her husband’s happiness. Maybe in her own way, she tried to make SJW, HSH and even JHR happy, unaware that SJW had already caught her. She thought that JHR would reveal the abortion to SJW so that it would create a riff between herself and SJW. Maybe she thought that at some point, SJW would turn to JHR and find solace in his friend’s arms. If WHK was really dying, then she feared that SJW wouldn’t be able to overcome her death. As conclusion, it is definitely possible that WHK ruined her reputation on purpose.
Right now, SJW is clearly in love with YMR because he is not afraid of confronting her or risking his own life for her. He knows her trauma and will do anything for her. But now, what about JHR? Does she really love SJW? In my opinion, she is not in love with him. Based on her conversations with KIW, it becomes clear that JHR is longing for love. She has the impression that she has never been loved.
episode 14
The words she is saying to KIW could be perceived as if she was talking to herself. She thinks that SJW never loved her which is wrong. SJW did love her but as a sister, as a part of his family but for her, it was not love. Furthermore, she blamed her parents because they died so early so that she could never experience love. However, a love coming from the parents is different from the love coming from a man. So SJW with his mother did try to let her experience love but she never saw it as such. She is definitely living in an illusion. She has reduced the meaning of love: love can only be between a man and woman therefore SJW became her obsession. She was loved by SJW but she never viewed it as such because she had a different definition of love. Now, she is trying to woo KIW believing that she is the only one who can fix KIW. She knows what kind of person he is. But does she love KIW? To me, she doesn’t love KIW too. She is just trying to make herself feel better and superior. With her words “YMR who abandoned you” or in an earlier conversation, JHR always implied that YMR had never loved KIW hence he became a monster. By receiving love from her, he will be able to change.
episode 11
In this scene, JHR implies that YMR never loved her husband sincerely. She thinks that since she knows his true nature (monster, snake-like eyes of yours), she can control and even manipulate him. She thought so because KIW confided a lot to her: he visited her after hurting his fist or when he was too drunk. All this time, JHR thought that she had the upper-hand. Since KIW is a man with strong emotions, she believed that the chaebol would fall for her as she was direct and frank. But her words unveiled her weaknesses: not only her arrogance but also her savior complex. Notice that she did it with SJW once. She also thought that once WHK was dead, she would be able to replace her and become SJW’s wife. Here, she is doing the same with KIW. She is not loving him, she is acting like a psychiatrist. All her attempts unveil that she doesn’t love herself at all in my opinion. She thinks that once a man loves her as a woman, she will feel loved. However, she is deceiving herself. JHR doesn’t know what love is therefore she doesn’t know what true love is. She is not honestly feeling sympathy for KIW’s pain because in reality, she is more talking to herself. She wished, someone would say these words to her. This explains why KIW deceives JHR in the end. He never bought her “sympathy” and her speech for love. Her arrogance made her forget the true personality of KIW: a royal cobra.
As for KIW, it is clear that he has never loved his wife. Like he confessed to JHR in the episode 13, when he saw YMR’s face for the first time, she looked so much like his mother that it took his breath away. KIW is not just suffering from abandonment issues, he doesn’t know what love is. For him, love is possession which he learnt from his father. He treats YMR like an object which he can mistreat, when he feels like it. KIW doesn’t know what true love is as he can not embrace his mother’s sorrow. He resents her for running away all this time and for choosing death over him. For him, love and betrayal are connected to each other that’s why he has always expected that YMR would leave his side. Yet, he has not realized that he was the reason for all this.
Finally, HSH claimed that he loved WHK, however he decided to leave her behind, when she was hurt because he would lose everything: his reputation, his friend aso. Just like IYH said, true love is when someone is loving another in pain and when the partner is having a hard time… HSH was just a selfish person in the end.
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Striking is that in this drama, we can witness the birth of a painting. The beholder usually only gets to see the start or the end product but not a work in progress. Nevertheless, we saw here two paintings that were not finished and each time, the finished work revealed the real state of mind of our heroine YMR, as both creations were named as a self-portrait. The difference between the paintings underlined that something had happened to our painter. But now, let’s take a closer look to these paintings. The first “Self-Portrait” was used in the first episode.
A cistus: episode 1 (the painting is unfinished, right after this taking, due to KIW’s remark, YMR gives the picture a name: ” A self-portrait”
The painting “A self-portrait” is now finished. We learn here the meaning of the cistus: I’ll die tomorrow.
Looking at the first picture, we can observe two things:
the darkness of the picture: we see a dead wood, she even used a lot of black and brown
First, we have two flowers. Furthermore their white color contrast so much to the surrounding. Since the flowers are blossomed, they indicate that their withering is about to happen, especially due to the environment.
So since it is a self-portrait, it actually symbolizes her actual situation: she is in a terrible situation. Her husband is embodied by the dead wood, he can not bring her happiness and life, actually he is the reason why she is perishing. Her world is cold and she feels lonely. There is no light, so there is no hope. The choice of a white flower and the number of cistus caught my attention because in the episode 12, she said that the flowers represent her heart and tears. It looks like back then YMR had lost all her energy hence there are only two flowers. Due to her desperate situation, she can not even cry. She is withering like a flower… So the first version wasn’t just depressing because of the dark colors and the environment. Even the choice of the flower was pessimistic: I’ll die tomorrow. However, in the finale version, the beholder observes a huge difference: the flowers are burning. This indicates that not only her situation has even worsened but also her despair has increased. She is literally screaming for help and if no one can see this, then she will die. Moreover, the fire could be perceived as a final attempt from her part. She will leave her husband and if she doesn’t succeed, then she is even willing to die, to get burned. So she is well aware of her husband’s outburst, if she leaves him again.
episode 10: The painting is called “A Self-Portrait Part Two” the first and unfinished version
In the second self-portrait, we also saw a first version (third picture above). Striking is the presence of wood, just like in the first self-portrait. Nevertheless, the wood is different. Here YMR used a table, unlike in the first painting where it looks more like a dead wood. Moreover, there is a presence of a human being in this picture due to the cup of tea and the letter envelope indicating that there is life in this picture. Finally, our painter chose to draw anemones in her painting. She even drew more anemones than cistus. Since the flower is red and the color red is associated to blood and life, I come to the conclusion that YMR’s state of mind has already changed. She has been brought back to life, since the painting is already oozing more life. The first version is still dark, although the beholder can see a ray of sunshine on the table. Yet the light is barely visible. Furthermore the message behind the anemone is “May I confess my love for you?” which illustrates that her heart has started beating again. She is no longer lifeless and loveless. Like she said to SJW, the flowers symbolizes her tears and heart. She can cry now. She has started caring for SJW. Due to the presence of wood in this self-portrait, we can come to the conclusion that YMR hasn’t been able to cut ties entirely with KIW, he is still affecting her life. The wood reveals that she is still suffering from a trauma.
episode 11: “A Self-Portrait Part Two”, the final version
The final version mirrors the evolution of her mental health. It looks like the flowers are actually growing from the table. YMR is able to remove little by little her bad memories, recover these with new good memories. Notice that this time, the flowers are painted with green leaves indicating that the flowers are not cut or put on the table, they look as if they were really alive. Then the ray of sunshine is much more pronounced this time. The dark and gloomy atmosphere has entirely disappeared. There is now more hope. YMR is not back to her old self, yet she has changed a lot. She is alive, feeling many emotions. The presence of a living person is also more visible than in the first version. Now, we see a letter with a feather. It was as if YMR had just left the table. Since YMR is not able to paint herself, this shows how much YMR suffered under KIW. She had lost her identity and her own personality, yet this time, YMR has found the courage to show to the world that she exists with different items: the envelopes, the letter and the feather. Naturally, she has another reason now, not to draw her face, since she has received the face of WHK. This second self-portrait still outlines her identity loss but unlike in the first self-portrait, the beholder can realize that YMR is searching for her own identity. She is trying with all her might to find her own place that’s what the growing flowers are representing. The flowers are trying to find their place in that table, it looks like the flowers want to cover the table, a symbol for her attempt to forget her painful experience and memories. As conclusion, YMR is no longer pessimistic and desperate. She is alive, feeling many positive emotions and she is hoping that she can leave her past behind.
When YMR offered SJW her self-portrait, SJW could connect her painting to the famous painting of Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican painter. Both characters were referring to that following picture, the wounded deer:
Frida Kahlo: wounded deer, 1946
Back then, Frida Kahlo had just been surged on her spine but her surgery had not been successful. Unlike in YMR’s self-portraits, Frida used an animal in order to represent herself. However, the deer has her face. Notice how the surroundings can give us a clue about Frida Kahlo’s state of mind. The forest looks lifeless, the trees are leafless, even one tree has lost a branch which lies on the ground. The dead nature embodies broken body of the painter. Furthermore, the colors (brown and beige) give a gloomy and pessimistic impression. The sun is not visible, just like there is no wave in the sea. All these elements put together make the beholder feel that there is no life and no energy. Frida Kahlo is heartbroken and broken physically. Moreover, the painter used an unreal perspective for the wounded deer. It doesn’t look like it is standing on its feet, but it doesn’t look like it is lying on the ground either. In my opinion, Frida wants to underline how terrible her physical situation is: she is not really paralyzed but she can not move freely either. She can not rest in the end. The arrows symbolize the surgery and the pain in her spine due to the surgery as the arrows are situated all around her spine. As you can see, the deer mirrors Frida Kahlo’s situation and feelings as the deer has Frida’s face. The Mexican painter is feeling powerless and she is showing her pain and despair to the world through her painting. YMR is in a different situation as she has lost her identity, unlike Frida Kahlo, that’s why the flowers have no face at all or there is no human being represented among her flowers. However, I am expecting YMR to be capable to drew a third self-portrait later which will be similar to her first painting that KIW saw in the beginning.
A woman holding a sword lily
We know that this week, YMR will leave SJW’s side as she will use WHK’s death to her advantage. By forcing SJW to declare WHK dead, KIW will be cornered. WHK was the only link to his wife’s whereabouts. For her, this departure will have a huge impact as she will be able to free herself completely from KIW.
In this drama, the writer used two legends from the Greek mythology: the death of Hyacinth and Adonis which led both to the birth of flowers: the hyacinth and the anemone. Hyacinth, as a Spartan prince and mortal was Apollo’s lover despite their different nature (human vs. god). Yet Zephyrus, the god of wind, got jealous and killed him with his disc.
the death of Hyacinth; painting from Alexandre Kisseliov (19th Century) Here you can see the disc thrown by Zephyrus
The god of the sun tried to heal his lover and it was in vain. In order to always remember his lover Hyacinth, Apollo created a new flower with Hyacinth’s blood: the Hyacinth.
the hyacinth
Then in the episodes from this week, we were told about the legend of Adonis and the anemone. SJW explained that Venus fell in love with Adonis due to Cupid and Ares got jealous and killed Adonis with a boar. However, the writer made a huge mistake because he mixed Greek names with Roman names. Romans used to call Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, sex and fertility but Ares is the Greek name of the god of war. Why do the Roman and Greek have the same mythology but different names? After the conquest of Greek cities in ancient times (Antiquity) by the Roman Empire, the Romans adopted the Greek religion, however they changed their names: Aphrodite became Venus, Ares became Mars, Zeus Jupiter aso. Our plastic surgeon was actually referring to the work of a Roman author, Ovid. However, in Ovid’s work Venus fell in love with Adonis by accident due to Cupid. The latter was playing with his arrows, when one of his arrows was punctured in her chest. Her wound was so deep that she fell in love with Adonis, when he appeared.
Venus, Adonis and Cupid painted by Annibale Carracci in 1595
However, the story of Adonis in Ovid doesn’t mention any jealousy as the reason for his death. It is just said that Adonis loved hunting and one day, he got killed by a boar while hunting alone. On the other hand, the the existence of Adonis in the Greek mythology is explained differently. https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/myth-aphrodite-adonis/ First, Aphrodite fell in love with the handsome man due to her own trick. Then either Artemis wanted revenge or Ares got jealous of Adonis because he was Aphrodite’s lover too. Anyway, in Greek and Roman mythology, the goddess of love used Adonis’s blood in order to create the flower anemone, a memorial of their love.
Anemones
As you can see, the writer from Love in Sadness mixed Roman and Greek mythology together. Nevertheless both stories have so many similarities. First both stories deal with the loss of a loved one, with a tragic death where the surviving person has trouble to accept the death of their lover. Furthermore, the gods create a flower (Hyacinth and Anemone) in order to remember their loved one. Finally, the writer used the aspect of jealousy in both stories which explains why he made a mistake with the name because he mixed Roman tradition with Greek mythology. And now, if we take a close look, we will notice that our main characters (KIW, YMR, WHK and SJW) share the same experience. YMR fakes her death in order to escape from her abusive husband, WHK got involved in an accident and got killed which affected her husband SJW a lot. SJW gave YMR his wife’s face which could be compared to the gesture of the god: SJW created a flower, just like Aphrodite and Apollo did. On the other hand, KIW has not created anything yet, he is still living in his memories: he has distorted version of his marriage with YMR. Maybe, the beholder should perceive KIW as the jealous person and not the lover, if we had to compare him to characters from the legends as he is really jealous. YMR loved painting more than anything and he knew that, hence he allowed her to paint but only at her studio and she was not allowed to show any creation to others. Concerning WHK, SJW and doctor Ha, the latter embodies definitely the jealous one who destroyed WHK in the end due to his jealousy and negligence. As conclusion, we understand better why this drama was called love in sadness because all these legends and our drama deal with tragic love, death, pain and sadness.
However, this is not the only reference to Greek literature and mythology. In the episodes from this week, we could finally perceive the true personality of doctor Ha Sung Ho. Remember that in my former analysis, I had compared Joo Hae Ra to a praying mantis, SJW to a butterfly and flower and KIW to a cobra.
episode 12
While watching this scene, the doctor’s words made me think of the famous fable “La cigale et la fourmi” (The cicada and ant) from Jean de la Fontaine. The latter is a French fabulist from the 17th Century who wrote many fables. He used as source of inspiration, the Greek author, Aesop (an author from ancient times, Antiquity).
Here is the fable written by Jean de La fontaine
La Cigale, ayant chanté Tout l’Été, Se trouva for dépourvue Quand la bise fut venue. Pas un seul petit morceau De mouche ou de vermisseau. Elle alla crier famine Chez la Fourmi sa voisine, La priant de lui prêter Quelque grain pour subsister Jusqu’à la saison nouvelle. Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle, Avant l’Oût, foi d’animal, Intérêt et principal La Fourmi n’est pas prêteuse ; C’est là son moindre défaut. « Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud ? Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse. — Nuit et jour à tout venant Je chantais, ne vous déplaise. — Vous chantiez ? j’en suis fort aise. Eh bien ! dansez maintenant. »
The gay cicada, full of song All the sunny season long, Was unprovided and brought low, When the north wind began to blow ; Had not a scrap of worm or fly, Hunger and want began to cry ; Never was creature more perplexed. She called upon her neighbour ant, And humbly prayed her just to grant Some grain till August next ; “I’ll pay, ” she said, “what ye invest, Both principal and interest, Honour of insects –and that’s tender. ” The ant, however, is no lender ; That is her least defective side ; “But, hark ye, pray, Miss Borrower, ” she cried, “What were ye doing in fine weather ? ” “ Singing . . . nay,! look not thus askance, To every comer day and night together. ” “ Singing ! I’m glad of that ; why now then dance. ” (translation from http://www.la-fontaine-ch-thierry.net/onegramu.htm
Notice that the cicada doesn’t like working, she is busy enjoying life and in time of need, the cicada visits the ant for help. The behavior of the doctor Ha Sung Ho reminds us a lot of the cicada as both share the same philosophy.
a cicada
They are carefree and even selfish as they let people work for them believing that generosity is a given. In Ha’s eyes, SJW is like an ant forgetting that SJW is working in order to support him and his wife as well. Only after WHK’s car accident, HSH started working like crazy accepting all different kind of patients, even risking the patients’ life. HSH even believes that their office is working so well because he made so many surgeries, but in my opinion, HSH is overestimating himself as he is overlooking SJW’s reputation. SJW was invited to a radio program, he even wrote a book… people from far away are coming to his office. Yet, HSH has never really considered SJW’s work as worthy to be mentioned because he has a different approach: SJW is working for his patients so that the latter can start enjoying their life, while HSH only worked out of guilt and pride. He never cares for his patients in reality. His words can be compared to the singing of the cicada: HSH always tries to praise himself in front of SJW. He is really jealous of SJW and not just because the latter married WHK. HSH could study because of SJW and his family, SJW was definitely the better student. Even after the big revelation, HSH shows his true face: he doesn’t feel sorry that he had an affair with WHK, he just reveals his jealousy and “hatred” for SJW. It will be interesting to see how HSH lives after leaving SJW’s office.
As conclusion, our characters from the drama Love in Sadness are all embodied by animals, except YMR: HSH the cicada, SJW the butterfly, KIW the cobra and JHR the praying mantis. But more importantly, it is clear that the writer was inspired by authors from the antiquity: Greek and Roman writers (Aesop, Ovid, aso).
From the start, the writer and drawer make sure that viewers can associate our heroine CSH to the moon. First, let us focus on the first drawing. Here, the princess appears in a dark and gloomy environment. It is not just night, the moon doesn’t seem to shine like it should.
Encounter drawing episode 1
Notice that it is not even full moon and the moon crescent is even hidden by the huge castle. All these points (moon crescent, hidden by the castle and lack of brilliance) underlines that CSH is not herself in the end. Since the castle embodies Y. Group and the pavilion Donghwa Hotel, we can better understand why CSH is still perceived as the ex-daughter in law of the chairman Kim. Now you might wonder why CSH is connected to the moon? First, it is quite simple. In the poetry, woman is often associated with the moon. This is no coincidence because the menstrual cycle lasts around 28 days which corresponds to the lunar cycle: 28 days. Another point is that in Europe, in many languages the moon is a feminine noun: la lune (French), la luna (Spanish, Italian) aso because they all have the same origin: luna from latin which was also a feminine noun because in the Roman mythology, Luna was a goddess. But now let us go back to our heroine. In the first episode, we witness her awakening which happens with the sunset. It was as if the sun would kiss the sea (another element embodying CSH) which would awaken our heroine. However, the beholder shouldn’t forget that the sunset announces the rise of the moon. And now you understand better why CSH acts so differently in Cuba. During this night, the moon shines just like CSH. During this fateful night, CSH reveals herself in front of KJH. She is far away from the castle and the gloomy environment. Striking is that many important events also happen during the night:
CSH visits KJH’s playground after work. Here she shows more her true personality as she is curious about this place.
episode 2
In the episode 3, she plays happily, she can forget her worries and everything else.
The scene where KJH is drunk
in the episode 5, she cries after leaving KJH because she thinks, she has to cut ties with him. She can not bear the thought therefore she visits the place where there is this huge painting that she likes
episode 5/6
What caught my attention is this taking. This is shown, just before KJH meets her in front of the painting. KJH feels happy first, until he looks at these pictures. Look at the photo on the left. The moon is about to be hidden, the moon crescent is barely visible. As you can observe, this picture kind of sends a warning: CSH is about to hide herself again.
episode 5
In the episode 11: she sits on the swing underlining that she is accepting KJH’s world. She feels comfortable. She is not hiding as she is also wearing a red coat.
episode 11
And in the last episode, she meets KJH at his playground again. This scene mirrors the scene from the episode 2, however the role are here reversed. While KJH was the one who caught there, CSH is the one who surprises her loved one. And during this night, it not only snowed but also they kissed in that playground. It was as if the kiss sealed their relationship. The beholder can notice that as time passed on, KJH and CSH got closer each time, when they were at the playground. In the former picture, KJH was not equal to CSH. He is on his knees and barely touches her knee. Now, both are standing but KJH embraces without restraint.
episode 16
All these mentioned scenes had something in common: CSH was herself, she never contained her true feelings. She couldn’t even hide her thoughts and even her happiness. That’s why CSH is like Cinderella. Cinderella is forced to only appear during the night due to the balls. Here, Cinderella shines. Yet, the writer changed one thing. In Cinderella, the protagonist hides her true identity behind her beautiful gown therefore no one can recognize her. In Encounter, it is different. CSH does the opposite: she reveals her true personality. Actually, the situation is reversed. She is not a princess, but a single woman longing for love and warmth. She becomes a normal woman, she drops her princess status. By associating CSH to the moon, we understand better why CSH was suffering from insomnia. The moon is only visible during the night… so CSH could only “live” during the night, as she was living like a corpse during the day. But even during the night, her actions were limited as she was monitored by the media and her ex-mother in law. Her insomnia was a symptom that CSH couldn’t live freely.
But the moon can not live without the sun as the moon revolves around the sun. In another analysis I had pointed out that the sun symbolizes KJH. Without the sun, the moon can not shine at all and this applies to our heroine. That’s why at the end of this drama, the drawing put these two together. KJH as the sun helps CSH to shine, as she can smile and be happy.
In my former post, I had analyzed this painting. We could see a change in YMR’s state of mind compared to the painting with the cistus called a Self-portrait. First, there is light signifying that there is hope. Secondly, the bouquet is protected from the rain by a red umbrella. The umbrella is a metaphor for SJW, he is her protector. However, since the surrounding is quite dark (it is night) and it is raining, we can see that YMR is still under the influence of the fear. She seems to be still disoriented. I mean her trauma is huge as she has been living in hell for 5 years. It takes time, until YMR can get rid of PDST. She has not found her own strength yet, as the flowers are relying on the umbrella. The petunias are also hiding under the umbrella which reflects YMR’s actual situation. She is hiding behind SJW and WHK’s face. Besides, the night and rain are linked to the fateful time, when YMR’s path crossed SJW’s. And this is no coincidence. As conclusion, this painting could be perceived as a metaphor for her fateful meeting with SJW that night. He gave her hope, protected her by taking her with his car and told her that he would do the surgery.
Yet as time passes on, we see other pictures from our painter. These are the paintings SJW discovers, when he visits YMR’s place for the first time.
Here we witness another evolution in YMR’s state of mind. What caught my attention is the contrast between these pictures and the painting with the umbrella. Little by little, nature is coming back to life. Notice that here the flowers are in the center of the pictures. The traces of darkness have disappeared. The flowers don’t need protection at all. They are not hiding behind an umbrella. No, the flowers show themselves as they are. Yet this observation must be put in perspective which I will explain further below.
Striking is that we see the number of flowers increasing: we have two lilies, then three plumerias, 4 red flowers etc. Moreover the presence of a civilization is disappearing. Only the one third picture shows a table made of wood with a white cup of tea. The orange, blue and yellow paintings have all something in common: the background looks more artificial. So 4 pictures out of 5 don’t show nature as such. There are all still lives. The only elements associated to nature are the different flowers and that’s it. The green painting with the plumerias contrasts to the others because here we can observe a change in the background: YMR used a prairie of grass, more exactly of clovers as background. Clover is associated to luck which illustrates that YMR feels more positive. That’s why I said that nature is coming back to life. She thinks, she might be able to move on with her life. Yet there is no sky in it. The sky often symbolizes freedom. Here the plumerias are living among clovers… it was as if they were living freely, yet also hiding among clovers so that people might not see them. So here again, YMR’s picture mirrors her own situation: she is living anonymously, among people so that KIW won’t be able to find her. Concerning the other paintings (artificial background or the table), we could say that the flowers hid themselves from the world as they were not put outdoors.
And here is her latest creation which reveals how much YMR has changed.
This time, the sky occupies a big part of the picture indicating that YMR feels more free. The flowers are also put in a meadow but here they can not hide behind the grass as the red bouquet is higher than the grass. Interesting is that this time, there is a butterfly. Actually, a butterfly needs flowers to live thanks to the pollen. Butterflies are fragile and yet beautiful. I would associate them with kindness, gentleness and usefulness. Don’t forget the expression “the butterfly effect” outlining the butterfly can have a huge impact on the environment and people. Thanks to butterflies (and bees), we can harvest fruits. Without these little insects, we wouldn’t be able to live in a healthy environment. To conclude, the butterfly is here not to protect the flowers, it is quite the opposite. The butterfly is actually relying on the flowers. And this painting is actually made just before YMR decides to help HR by acting as WHK. Therefore I come to the interpretation that this butterfly embodies SJW. And it does fit his personality: his love for flowers, his gentleness, his kindness… he doesn’t show any strength, yet thanks to him, people are coming back to life (YMR and his other patients). In my opinion, this painting mirrors the actual situation: YMR wants to help SJW in reality as she feels gratitude. She knows deep down that he needs her, even if he won’t say it. So here in YMR’s mind, the relationship between SJW and YMR has changed: in her eyes, SJW needs her as he is facing some financial problems. She becomes his support, while SJW is trying to keep acting as her umbrella.
This explains why YMR is attracted to SJW in the end and she is even falling for him. Flowers and the butterfly have a deep connection which the cobra has not.
For me, SJW is not obsessed with his wife because he is not confusing YMR with WHK. Like I had mentioned it before, SJW actually fell for YMR, when he met her for the first time. Back then, he already wanted to help her. The fact that YMR has the same face than SJW’s wife should be seen as a mirror to KIW’s relationship with YMR. The contrast is so telling.
KIW was attracted by YMR because she resembled his mother, while it was not the same between YMR and SJW. He tried to protect her even before the surgery.
Striking is that YMR was the one who asked him to give her the face of someone SJW liked which he did. So far, YMR is not bothered by this idea at all. Actually, she views it as a gift, while she saw her own face as a curse. The words contrast so much: KIW = curse /SJW: a gift.
The third difference is that YMR only discovered much later that she had his mother’s face, while YMR discovered quite quickly that she had now WHK’s face.
Another distinction is how SJW and KIW acts because of the resemblance. SJW wants YMR to find her freedom and peace so that she can blossom, whereas the violent husband wants her to put her in a cage.
To me, the real obsessed one with WHK is actually YHR. During her confrontation with her “friend”, she showed her true colors. She showed no empathy for her supposed “best friend” WHK… she wished that SJW would have abandoned his wife. Secondly, she despises love “that darn love!”. She knew all along about the affair but she decided to remain silence as she thought that SJW would be hurt. She got enraged, when she saw with her own eyes that SJW knew all along and yet he had been taking care of WHK as a devoted husband. This made HR realize that she had no real chance with SJW. Now, she believes that SJW is falling for YMR because of her face and this is where she is definitely wrong. First, SJW uses YMR to feel better… he felt guilty towards his wife because if he had stopped her back then, she wouldn’t have been involved in that accident. By giving all the support YMR needs he has the impression that he is redeeming himself. I am sure, he blames himself for the affair, rather than blaming WHK. She ran away because he was somehow lacking in his mind. However, I doubt that he knows about the identity of the lover. It is definitely his best friend… because once he knows the whole truth, he will stop blaming himself.
Another interesting metaphor in this drama is the cobra.
WIK as cobra
The cobra embodies WIK perfectly as this underlines his dangerousness. He is deadly. Moreover, this explains why WIK said last week that he preferred moving targets. On the other we have our doctor and YMR symbolized by flowers. And what is YHR’s symbol? First, I had the spider in my mind but I changed my mind. YHR reminds me of a praying/preying mantis. A mantis is an animal which remains immobile for a while until the insect is sure to catch a prey. Usually, a praying mantis uses a flower or plant as concealment.
a praying mantis hidden in a flower
It looks a lot like the plant or flower itself (the color). And now you understand why YHR reminds me of that insect. SJW is associated to flowers in general. Secondly the close cohabitation between the plant and the insect mirrors SJW’s relationship with YHR. However, YHR is not a nice person… she has no problem to throw people under the bus which she revealed in her argument with SJW. Her lack of compassion and her selfishness were visible in that scene. Moreover the insect itself “Praying mantis” (in French “mante religieuse”/ in German “Gottesanbeterin”) is linked to religion, as in many different languages the name of the insect contains an element about God or religion. Therefore I came to the conclusion that for HR, SJW is her religion, her obsession. She worships SJW, she has no problem to stay by his side without becoming his girlfriend or wife but she won’t tolerate anyone else by his side. She is the only one who can be close to SJW that’s why she dislikes this closeness between YMR and SJW. That’s why YHR got scared of WIK. A praying mantis is weak compared to a cobra, the former is even used as food for the cobra. However, YHR as a mantis has an advantage: a preying mantis is patient and can remain immobile for a long time. So in my opinion, YHR will use YMR/WHK as a diversion thinking that WIK will realize YMR’s true identity. She will use YMR as the moving target which will attract the cobra’s attention. She wants to put YMR on the silver plate… but she will fail. First, WIK is definitely obsessed with YMR’s face which represents a huge hurdle. YHR has no idea of the resemblance with WIK’s mother. The other reason why I connect YHR to a praying mantis is that the female insect kills her male companion once the mating is done. YHR is dangerous to SJW and so far, since she has lived for so long by SJW’s side, the latter hasn’t become aware of her true personality. I also believe that she played a part by creating a riff between the real WHK and SJW which the latter has not realized yet too.
But now let’s take a closer look to the flowers which are used in each episode:
episode 1: the cistus “I will die tomorrow”
episode 2: the daisy “You are my hope”
episode 3: Rosemary “You bring me back to life”
episode 4: Lavender “Tell me”
episode 5: Purple Lilac “Fear comes for me”
episode 6: Petunia “If you stay by my side”
Striking is that YMR is associated to different flowers. First she appeared in her painting
YMR holding a purple gladiolus/ sword lily
First, this is the only painting where YMR drew a person. Notice the contrast to her painting called A self-portray
Episode 2: the painting here is called A self-portray. The represented flower is a cistus
Secondly, the colors are bright and she is surrounded by a beautiful countryside. The green is associated to life, whereas the gloomy and dark colors in the second painting illustrates the dying nature. The cistus is living next to a dead wood which can only bring death to the flower. Moreover, the flower is burning indicating that its death is imminent. The two portraits represent YMR and the comparison outlines how YMR has not only lost her face but also her personality and identity. YMR is no longer a sword lily but she has become a cistus. A sword lily is linked to
Strength of character
Faithfulness, sincerity and integrity
Infatuation
Never giving up
Just like the name says it, the gladiolus shows a certain fighting spirit. This strength disappeared due to the constant abuse.
Then in the episode from this week, our heroine paints a red petunia.
Red petunias under an umbrella
This painting indicates the change in YMR’s mentality. The light outlines that she has hope now. The umbrella is protecting the flower from the rain. In this painting, the umbrella embodies SJW, while the red petunia is our female protagonist. YMR is very well aware that SJW has been protecting her. She is starting gathering some courage and strength. The choice of the color, red, seems to point out the return of life and passion. She paints with more enthusiasm than before.
But YMR is not only associated to flowers due the paintings, her name reminds SJW of Rosemary. Actually, WHK was associated to this plant. She liked the scent of Rosemary and the color (purple) and this explains why WHK and YMR’s fate are intertwined. Their path crossed 5 years ago… WHK made the decision to go to her lover, while YMR gave in and accepted WIK’s proposal. When both made that decision, they didn’t know that they would lose their life and identity. Finally, WIK associates YMR to the purple lilac, when he visits YHR at the gallery.
WIK’s hand at the end of the episode 5: purple lilac
With his bare hands, he takes a petal from the purple lilac and even crushes it, while saying that he will find her. So this scene is meaningful as it shows his determination to find her. Then even if she has changed, he will recognize her. YMR was never linked to the purple lilac before. Finally, this scene reveals what will happen, once he catches YMR. She will get beaten up. To conclude, the plastic surgery will only delay his discovery, he is already able to see YMR in a different form and shape.
To conclude, all the flowers (purple lilac, petunia, sword lily, cistus, daisy, lavender and Rosemary) were embodying our heroine which indicates that YMR is always changing. She could be perceived as nature itself. It was as if she was the queen of all the flowers which explains why SJW is fascinated by her. SJW loves flowers above anything hence he has a small garden in his house.
This k-drama which started airing on February 23rd is actually a remake of a Japanese drama
Title (romaji): Utsukushii Hito
Also known as: Le Bel Homme / Beauty
which I haven’t watched. Besides, this drama is also very similar to the American movie Sleeping with the enemy due to the main topic: domestic violence and how the wife tries to escape from the claws of her husband by changing her identity/faking her death. It seems that domestic violence is no longer a tabboo and has become a “trend” in South Korea as many k-dramas are using this topic to criticize the current situation. We have to imagine that 10 years ago, the actress Choi Jin-Sil committed suicide due to the scandal when she had reported that she was a victim of domestic violence. Back then, it was a taboo and her revelation caused her to lose everything. The reason I am writing about is that despite being a remake and the resemblances to the American movie, the writer and the director have been able to make this drama very intriguing and captivating.
First, the main protagonist is a painter hence her paintings add more depth to the story. Secondly, there are references to literature and classical music giving more chances to analyze this drama. In other words, the viewers have to pay attention to details so that they can better understand the characters and their issues.
In the beginning, we are shown this painting
episode 1
YMR is actually working on it, when her husband Kang In Wook enters her painting studio. He remarks that this painting and this flower resembles her a lot, hence she decides to title this picture “a self-portray”. Looking at the painting itself, the beholder observes two things:
the darkness of the picture: we see a dead wood, she even used a lot of black and brown
First, we have two flowers. Furthermore their white color contrast so much to the surrounding. Since the flowers are blossomed, they indicate that their withering is about to happen, especially due to the environment.
So since it is a self-portray, it actually symbolizes her actual situation: she is in a terrible situation. Her husband is embodied by the dead wood, he can not bring her happiness and life, actually he is the reason why she is perishing. Her world is cold and she feels lonely. There is no light, so there is no hope. If you look now at her painting studio, you’ll notice the disparity between this painting and the others hanging on the walls. All of them represent flowers but the choice of the color is totally different: a lot of green, red…. to conclude, she used bright colors in the past. So after being married for 5 years, this painting reveals her own mental state: she is depressed and desperate. But here is the question: why are there two flowers, if it is a self-portray?
Then in the same episode, shortly after, the director uses these takings
Yoon Ma Ri looking out the window
As you can notice, there are two Yoon Ma Ri, yet it looks like the second version is fading away, she is disappearing. And this is no coincidence. YMR is about to lose herself, her soul by remaining by her husband. She is not even allowed to choose her own clothes. She lives trapped in a cage hence the window with the bare reflects her actual position: she is a prisoner. She is not even allowed to paint outdoors which explains why her latest painting looks so gloomy and depressing. She can no longer paint as she has run out of energy and inspiration. So this explains why the second YMR is disappearing and why there are two flowers. The bigger one represents her own body, she is about to become a living corpse.
Striking is the finale version of her painting “a self-portray” is different.
In this scene, we learn that the meaning of the flower is “I will die tomorrow”.
So the first version wasn’t just depressing because of the dark colors and the environment. Even the choice of the flower was pessimistic. However, in the finale version, the beholder observes a huge difference: the flowers are burning. This indicates that not only her situation has even worsened but also her despair has increased. The moment she called it a self-portray, YMR revealed that she was actually waiting for her own death. In the finale version, the beholder is actually witnessing her death. Sure, she is announcing her death but it also shows that she even prefers burning than living in the dark for too long. This indicates that she is even willing to risk her life in order to escape from this misery. She will do anything, even if this means her death: the fire creates some light, it can even be seen by someone. So she is not giving up.
As you can see, Love is Sadness is not different from Encounter as it uses a painting to give a message, illustrate a situation and the state of mind of a character.
Then in the same episode, we see the male protagonist, the plastic surgeon Seo Jung Woo, reading a page to his wife YH who is in a coma. The chosen book is Wuthering Height written by Emily Bronte in the 19th century, a tragic and painful love story. The protagonist Heathcliff loved Catherine, but the latter chose to marry someone else, Edgar Linton, as he came from a higher social status. Heathcliff had been raised in Catherine’s family. Due to her rejection, Heathcliff decided to get revenge on her and Edgar Linton. Interesting is that SJW chose to read the extract where Heathcliff is talking about the betrayal and the heartbreak. Catherine ripped off his heart and her own heart… So here again, this reveals that SJW is well aware that his comatose wife hurt him in the past by her betrayal. Later, we discover that she had an affair and lied to him. Due to this novel, we can already imagine what will happen to her: she will die, just like Catherine died before Heathcliff. The latter did torment her for marrying Edgar Linton but here, SJW married her hence he had no reason to torment her and she had no reason to betray him.
This analysis is composed of two parts: I will focus first on the hands and later on scenes where the feet are shown.
While the hands and feet played a huge importance in the relationship between our protagonists CSH and KJH, a good observant might realize that the hand had an important part in the relationship between KJH and her friend HI. Until the episode 5, we see that JH and HI are close but not so close friends as JH doesn’t confide to her at all. She has no idea what happened in Cuba. Only when HI recognized him in the scandal, he had to explain himself.
Striking is that JH feels comfortable around HI, he teases her, runs after her after joking but he doesn’t really touch her physically. However, after revealing his identity in the hall, HI goes to a cafe and remembers the past. Interesting is that JH approaches HI in order to congratulate her. He knew that she would be alone hence he came. She is thankful but he just answers:
episode 5
What HI hasn’t realized yet is what is about to happen. JH wants to take a picture and hugs her with one arm. What caught my attention in this scene was the hand.
episode 5
While JH is focusing on the camera, she looks at his hand that touches her shoulder. He has just declared that she was a good friend and here with this touch, HI perceives JH for the first time in a different light. His hand on her shoulder changes everything. From now on, she views him as a man. JH is unaware that his gesture is quite “intimate” as he keeps looking at the camera.
He doesn’t see how she looks at his face. She views him as a handsome man… JH’s other hand is in the foreground, blurred which serves as contrast. JH is paying attention to the camera, not to the girl that stands so close to him and his face. For HI, the camera in front of her is not important… JH is more important to her hence the second hand of JH is blurred. With this taking, the viewer can see both perspectives: JH is unaware that his casual gesture has triggered something in HI, for him taking a good picture is more relevant.
episode 5: she keeps this picture with her all the time. The moment she perceived KJH as man and his hand made her heart flutter.
JH gave her the picture later and for HI, this picture symbolizes the moment she fell in love with JH, the moment she realized that JH was a man after all. She clings to that memory hoping to find strength that’s why her hand is shown. For her, this picture is a treasure, the brief moment where she was so close to him: a happy memory which is linked to pain as well. Now, we all understand why HI was never able to confess to JH. Since he had declared before, they were friends… this picture marks for him the beginning of their real friendship (no more childhood friends), whereas for her it means the opposite: the moment she fell in love with him.
Since JH had touched her so casually once, I sense that HI might have thought, JH would come to touch her again like in this scene and would experience the same. She hoped that staying close to him, a casual touch might happen which would trigger feelings in him. What HI didn’t realize is that this memory has a different significance for JH: from that moment, he would always see her as a friend. That’s why he keeps saying to her that she is a friend.
However, I believe that his words must hurt her a lot because she is constantly reminded that in that moment she fell in love with him. Sure, HI had other reasons to believe that JH might come to love her… they belong to the same social class, she knows him well, she knows his family well too. On the surface, there was no reason for her to woo JH as he didn’t seem to be the type to be interested in woman. But the other reason why HI got never close to KJH is that we never see her foot get closer to KJH. She only had a connection with KJH’s hand: the red diary book or the scene with the picture (see above). HI was never able to get closer to him… that’s why we see this game: HI is chasing after KJH but she is unable to win as her feet never get closer to his.
episode 2 HI is trying to catch KJH
But we were shown in many other occasions takings of hands. So the director didn’t just focus on hands between CSH and KJH or HI and KJH, he paid attention to hands generally as he had another purpose in his mind. After JH entered CSH’s world (episode 4), he came in contact with director Choi and Chairman Kim. He had to hear terrible things. These painful experiences were shown in the episode 7 in flashbacks.
Encounter episode 7: Director Choi with our hero KJH
Episode 7: Chairman Kim facing KJH
Striking is that they are all in black and white, just like CSH’s memories from the episode 1,
Episode 1: Cha So Hyun with her father CJH and mother. CJH has become the mayor of Seoul.
episode 1: her marriage with JWS
where she remembered her sad, painful and lifeless life. As you can see, JH went through the same things than CSH. People telling him how to behave and what to say, giving harsh comments. By using the same mean of filming, the director underlined the similarity between our main leads. Moreover, these black and white scenes symbolize CSH’s world, the kingdom Taegyeong Group, the world JH had decided to enter in order to become a meaningful person to CSH. Now, he knows in what kind of world she has been living. This kingdom is huge and scary.
But in this black and white world, how can the subjects survive, as there is no sunlight and no warmth at all? Well, I had already pointed out that CSH had found ways to keep her mind sane and to express herself: the paintings and the hands. But actually, she is not the only one who uses the hand as a way to express feelings and indirectly thoughts.
In order to endure everything, to bear the humiliation and the harsh treatment, all of them, even director Choi who is just a pawn, react the same way. They hide their true feelings by hiding behind a smile or an expressionless face and use their hands in order to release their anger
episode 4: KJH’s hand just before he intervenes and decides to enter her world
(JH, episode 4… he hears director Choi insulting CSH) , anxiety, fear (episode 3, CSH’s hand sitting in front of Chairman Kim),
helplessness
(JH, episode 7 after hearing about his transfer) or their hurt. That way, queen Kim and the other royals think that they are all obedient puppets. However, this is just a subterfuge. None of them stop thinking or feeling. They remain humans.
episode 7: director Choi is meeting CEO Kim.
With this taking, the hands of director Choi reveal two aspects: he is hiding one hand with the other. Actually, he is scared because Chairman Kim tells him that she discovered his disobedience and she saw his gesture as backstabbing (episode 7). With his two hands, director Choi is able to deceive Kim as his gesture underlines his obedience. However, we could interpret this gesture as a way to hide his fear… while the one hand is shaking, the other is able to hide and control the shaking.
Now, you understand the “obsession” of this director with the hands. The hand is used in this cold world as a way to endure everything but at the same time to remain human. They are able to stay calm and overcome the terrible situation. Striking is that the director even decided to show the hands of minor characters like director Choi reinforcing the idea that in this chaebol world no one is actually really speechless. They might not speak in front of chairman Kim but they are still able to think on their own and feel.
But now let us focus on the takings of feet. Sure, the director often zoomed on KJH or CSH’s shoes. Nevertheless the way the taking was made has its significance. When KJH decided to enter CSH’s world, we see the following zooms:
episode 4
As you can see, when we see KJH’s feet, his legs are visible, whereas it is not the case for CSH. Her shoes are partially visible or we only can observe her feet with ankles. To me, this reflects their freedom. CSH is not able to move freely like KJH. The closer the zoom, the less mobile and free the person is. Sure, this could be a coincidence. However, it was continually used this way. Let me give you another example. In the episode 7, KJH is told that he will be sent to Sokcho. Frustrated, he goes jogging. Then suddenly, we see this:
episode 7
To me, this taking reflect the pressure and his actual position: he is still free to tell CSH about the demotion, whereas in reality he has not many options. He can not tell CSH the truth as he fears that she might get hurt again. Moreover, she might do something that could tarnish her reputation.
episode 7
This explains why later the viewer can observe this: CSH is returning to her office after hearing the news about KJH’s demotion. Notice that this time, we see more than her feet. She has definitely more freedom than before… I see another confirmation with this scene from the episode 11:
Here, you could object that we don’t see the legs, yet their legs are visible through the shadows. So now we see that their feet are next to each other. Not only their closeness is reflected with this taking, but also their freedom . CSH chose to be with KJH and she made her decision willingly. Yet, notice that KJH’s shadow is bigger than CSH’s indicating that CSH’s situation is still different from KJH. She still has some issues: her own fears and insecurities. In the camera zoom from the episode 7, we see her walking which contrasts to the former takings from the episode 3
episode 3: KJH wants to get closer to CSH, hence he moves his foot just a little, which CSH will reject. She moves her foot away… just a little.
or 4 (see pictures above). She is no longer immobile. The zoom (Picture from the episode 7, see above) reflects her change of mind. She is active. This justifies why CSH’s feet are moving more slowly than KJH’s (episode 9).
episode 9: CSH is returning to KJH’s side.
She was trapped before, unable to move… had no freedom, now she is free but due to her long immobility, she can not run like KJH.
episode 9
Striking is that just like with the hands, the director used zooms on feet of other characters.
episode 7: driver Nam with Min Jun, KSJ’s daughter
This taking underlines two aspects: the closeness of these two persons, yet the problem that MJ is facing: the divorce of her mother. Driver Nam can only remain by her side and help her to overcome this. He can not do what he would like.
To conclude, the takings of hands and feet revealed a lot about the characters’ situation and their emotions. The director used a very unconventional way to symbolize the actual situation, the feelings of the characters.
Nowadays the focus of modern k-dramas has changed as more and more we see female characters (leads or second characters) in their thirties or forties. This actually shows that the writers are using the dramas in order to point out the difficult situation modern Korean women are facing: the struggles in the marriage, divorce, raising a child, work… By doing so, the dramas are trying to change the perception of women and their status.
Striking is that in Encounter and Romance is a Bonus Book, we see divorced women indicating that divorce has become a normality. Not just both female leads are divorced but also the PR manager Kim Sun Joo (Encounter) and Seo Young Ah (Romance is a Bonus Book). While infidelity was the reason for the three divorces, in SYA’s case it is different. The latter felt neglected and not protected by her husband. The latter not only preferred avoiding trouble, he also didn’t pay attention to her at all, since he was reading, while she was looking at the shoes.
Now if we focus on our two female leads, we will notice a huge difference. Unlike CSH, Kang Dan Yi’s life worsened due to the divorce. While CSH felt free for the first time and she managed to get a job (CEO of Donghwa Hotel) as her alimony, KDY, who had given up her career for her husband and family, was left with nothing. Her husband claimed that he was broke hence he never gave her any alimony. KDY was not just abandoned, she was struggling financially too, since she couldn’t find a job. In the end, she became homeless. Marriage had a huge impact on her life: she chose to give up on her career and to focus on her family. After her divorce, she tried to find a job like she used to have. However she was not successful, since she had to fight against younger graduated women. Her status as housewife represents a huge hindrance in her come back. People see this as if she had done nothing important, as if she had been lazy all the time. KDY worked hard as a housewife but her work is not recognized by society. I could mention another k-drama “Terius behind me”, whose female main lead Go Ae Rin was in a similar situation. She had to raise two kids while trying to find a job after her husband’s sudden death. Go Ae Rin as a housewife didn’t feel acknowledged by her husband hence their marriage was facing a crisis.
Terius behind me: episode 1 Go Ae Rin with her husband
GAR was hurt and struggling as well. With these three examples, we can clearly see that the women’s situation hasn’t changed a lot: being a housewife is not rewarding, becoming dependent of a husband isn’t good either. Just like KDY, GAR tried to find a job but her status as housewife and mother became a hindrance. Yet, besides there is a new type of married woman: Kim Sun Joo
Encounter episode 6: Kim Sun Joo announcing her divorce to her friend Nam.
Romance is a Bonus Book: Seo Young Ah as the marketing manager is helping Kang Dan Yi
and Seo Young Ah are the perfect example. Both women have a family, yet they kept working… they never wanted to give up on their career. However both end up divorced for different reasons. Nevertheless unlike KDY and GAR, both women are not struggling financially and have not really lost their confidence. The divorce has affected them but they are still able to live normally and have no real identity crisis. For KDY, GAR and CSH, this is different. The three female leads have all something in common: loss of identity.
Encounter episode 7
Romance is a Bonus Book: episode 3
As you can read, both women lost their name therefore they lost their identity. In KDY’s case, we hear how she was called all these years (“Honey, Mummy, Madame”), while Cha Soo Hyun was always presented as the daughter or the ex-daughter-in-law. Striking is that the moment Cha Soo Hyun decided to do what she wants in her life, she started using her name again. Today is the first day, when she uses herself her own name. For KDY, it is similar. She also felt good being called by her name. Both women lost their identity and name as they were perceived for their function, usefulness. KDY was the one who helped her husband and daughter, CSH was useful for her father, mother and Taegyeong Group. It seems that the status as housewife and married woman is no longer a dream and reference. The reality is that housewives are isolated. In “Terius behind me”, GAR had friends but they were all housewives. KDY had only Cha Eun Ho as friend. CSH had no friend too.
Yet, in Romance is a Bonus Book we also see the other side of the coin: remaining single is not good either. Ko Yoo Sun ran away just before getting married as she was afraid of losing her job, her career and even her identity. However, now she regrets it as she is alone.
Romance is a Bonus Book: episode 8. Koo Yoo sun reveals her secret and past.
To conclude, in the actual k-dramas we see that a marriage can lead to misery and that being a housewife is linked to struggle, loss of identity and can lead to tragedy. The fairy tale with the marriage as happy ending is proven wrong. Reality is that housewives are too dependent on their husband’s income and their own worth is not acknowledged by society and even by the husband. In “Terius behind me”, her husband asked her to find a part-time job so that she would lose her weight and earn some money. As you can see, even her husband felt their situation burdensome… he was put so much under pressure as his whole family was relying on his income. On the other hand, remaining single is not a solution either as the result is loneliness. That’s why the traditional perception of marriage has changed. Being married and having a child doesn’t mean that a woman has to give up her job and career. Then Seo Young Ah’s husband made a mistake: he took his wife for granted. He thought, their love for each other would be enough and he was wrong. Love and respect are essential which is revealed in the three k-dramas I used as example. Moreover, we also see more and more that the image of men has changed either: the man should help his wife at home and raise the children as well. “Terius behind me” was the perfect example: Terius became really close to the twins and did a good job as taking care of the children. This is no longer the job of the wife. Nowadays men are expected to do house chores and raise the children. Cha Eun Ho and Terius correspond to this new image of men.
In the
k-drama Encounter, the writer used poems, books and stories for many purposes:
Give
more depth to the main characters
Use
the main message from classical books like The Little Prince (“enjoy your life
with simple things, take care of your inner child”) and Alice in Wonderland or
poem (Rainer Maria Rilke f. ex.)
Discover
the beautiful side of poetry, make a connection between poetry and daily life.
A
demystification of fairy tales: a prince charming is just a façade
To
promote new books, encourage people to read
Interesting
is that now there is another k-drama called “Romance is a supplement” or “Romance
is a Bonus Book”, whose story looks quite similar on the surface. Here we have
again a noona romance, where the main character is a divorced woman Kang Dan Yi.
She has a very special relationship with a younger man Cha Eun Ho.
Striking is that the story of this k-drama evolves around books as well, as CEH and KDY are both working at a publishing company. As you can see, books have a special place again. However, the use of books is a little different, since the company Gyeoroo Publishing is a fictional company. So the books they publish and are about to publish can’t be real. Besides, our protagonist Cha Eun Ho is himself a professor of literature at Hanguk University, writer and Chief Editor at this publishing company. His works are fictional as well. Then the other difference is that the writer has a different purpose, it shows how a book is born. A book is not just the result of the author, the publishing company had a lot of people working on it: the editing team, the marketing team, the designer etc. KDY even compared a book to the birth of a baby… It takes a long time before the book in his finale form is created. CEH hopes that even with “one book may change someone’s life” (episode 4). Another distinction is the way people treats books nowadays as if it was nothing special. The clients in the bookstores damage the book without even paying for it, a clear sign of disrespect. Then the viewers are confronted with different scenes where readers damage the books. This is one of the gestures:
episode 4: with her cellphone, she is damaging the book. Another gesture is: some coffee stain on the book pages.
Furthermore a lot of published books end up shredded for many reasons. The publishing company can’t donate these books, the best option is to destroy them as they can still get some money from the shredding. With these two examples, we have clearly a critic about consumer society. Moreover, it shows that many books are still published despite the area of Internet and blog.
Imagine the waste of paper and the amount of cut trees
All the pictures are from the episode 4, market economy and profit are now the rules for publishing companies in order to survive.
Yet the survival and the long existence of a book is determined by his success. The pressure is definitely bigger compared to the 20th and 19th century, since more and more books are published which was visible in the scene at the print shop. They have to compete with foreign books as well. Furthermore many books become outdated and useless…
In this scene, the character Yeong-Ah sees our heroine DY searching for books about marketing. The recommendation given by YA reveal the short life of certain books. It looks like it is very difficult to create a classical book, a timeless work.
epsiode 1: Ji Seo Joon and Kang Dan Yi
Nonetheless, both k-dramas used the fairy tale Cinderella, however with a different approach. Our heroine in Romance is a Bonus Book is disillusioned. She doesn’t believe in fairy tales any longer due to her divorce and situation in the episode 1. She rejects the shoes an unknown young man Ji Seo Joon offers her. The writer used certain elements from Cinderella: unknown identity, loss of shoes, night, a beautiful gown (in the shop window). The shoes belonged to her in the first place but due to an incident, she had lost one and decided to throw the other away which were picked up by JSJ, a book cover designer. DY tells him that she no longer believes in fairy tales and knight in shining armors as she is too old for that.
Finally, the
scriptwriter of Romance is a Bonus Book reminds us that diaries are actually
books, so many people are already writers. At the end of each episode, we see
written thoughts from our main characters. These could be seen as selected notes
from the diary CEH and KDY are writing. They both reveal a lot about their
affection for each other. Moreover, this was implied when KDY rejected the
shoes from JSJ. She said, she would rather write her own story.
As conclusion, although both k-dramas have a different approach to books, they have one common denominator: they are encouraging people to read. Both writers treasure books in the end. Romance is a Bonus Book reveals that it has become really difficult to turn a book into a classical book nowadays like f. ex. The Little Prince or Alice in Wonderland.
In this scene, our main characters are reading the favorite book from the other. While CSH has The Little Prince in her hands, KJH is holding Alice in Wonderland. One is a philosophical tale, while the other is more or less a fairy tale. What does it say about Cha Soo Hyun? Unlike The Little Prince that was indirectly mentioned in the earlier episodes (through the painting and his first love confession), so far, the work of Lewis Carroll was never implied before. Yet both works have many things in common. Besides both deal about childhood and they look like children books on the surface, nonetheless there is a deep message behind these stories. A deeper analysis reveals that Alice in Wonderland is about becoming an adult and Alice’s journey in that strange land correspond to her growth from a child into adulthood through adolescence. As you can see, childhood has a huge place in these two stories, nevertheless their perspective about childhood and memories contrasts, moreover their approach is different. While in The Little Prince the author wants adults to remember their inner child in order to live differently and enjoy life to the fullest, Lewis Carroll wrote in the preface this following verses:
Alice! A childish story take,
And with a gentle hand,
Lay it where Childhood’s dreams are twined
In Memory’s mystic band,
Like pilgrim’s withered wreath of flowers
Plucked in far-off land.
Striking is that the fairy tale and childhood dreams are compared to withered wreath of flowers. Sure, they represent memories too, yet these suffer from time as they are described as “withered”. So the author is referring to the fact as older the person becomes, the more childhood memories seem to disintegrate… they lose their intensity. Time has an impact on them. Sure, people tend to held onto these memories hence they are compared to “pilgrims” but time has an impact on these childhood dreams. Furthermore, at the end of the story, Alice’s sister tries to remember Alice’s “journey” and “dream”. She is well aware that this was just a dream. Her eyes are closed and she attempts to imagine this Wonderland. Yet, she can not live the same experience as she is not asleep. While “dreaming”, she is still awake and her mind recognizes each image and sound from Alice’s story to the image and sound of the real world. The older sister starts imagining Alice as an adult who will keep the simple and loving heart of her childhood. She will tell this story to her own children and remember this story and her childhood as something good. As you can see, childhood is linked in both works to purity and innocence and one author think that the person from the childhood won’t change that much (Alice’s image doesn’t change much in the future in the sister’s eyes), whereas Antoine de Saint-Exupéry thinks that otherwise. Adults change so much that they forget that they were once children. Time is quite important in Alice in Wonderland it is very often mentioned or implied (White Rabbit with the clock, her fall seems to be endless and during the fall, she can take things from the walls etc). Besides, Alice is even wondering if she should grow old or remain young. She decides, it is better to grow up as she doesn’t want to get lessons all her life. On the other hand, in The Little Prince, there was no time indication, the only thing related to time was the “death” of The Little Prince.
But let us take a closer look at Alice in Wonderland. Since CSH chose this book, this implies that she feels some connection with the main character. What have Alice, the main character, and Cha Soo Hyun in common? First, both are female characters, while The Little Prince was a boy… the same gender than KJH. Secondly, the story begins with a dream. Alice is sitting next to her sister, while the latter is reading a book. Alice feels bored and fell asleep. Striking is that transition between dream and reality is not visible. And this is interesting because the more we read, the more confused it becomes. The distinction between dream and reality is not clear at all, especially when it is written: (First chapter) “the sleep began to win Alice”, she is even described in her dream as “half-asleep” giving the impression that she was awake before. Yet, this is not possible as she had already made different strange experiences: meeting the White Rabbit with his clock, the endless fall where time seems to have changed. So she was already dreaming, however it looks like there is a “second sleep” indicating that she is falling deeper and deeper asleep. So the borders between reality and dream are not clear at all. Strangely is that Cha Soo Hyun is in a similar situation in the beginning. She has been in a coma for so long so that she has some problems to discern what is reality from dream. In the episode 11, while she is drunk, she confides to KJH her biggest fear. She is so happy to have him by her side that she is worried.
episode 11
These words underline her confusion. For her, it is too good to be true. This must be a dream because reality is so different. Her vegetable state has affected her. She can no longer distinguish what is dream and reality. Well, in “Alice in Wonderland”, there were still allusions to the real world: her cat Dinah, her friends Ada and Mabel, her lessons etc.” so that this story is a mixture of dream and reality. A certain confusion exists in the story too. Yet, the way Alice wakes up at the end marks a turning point. She rejects “Wonderland” claiming that they are just a deck of cards. She refuses to acknowledge The Queen of Heart and her minions, she regains consciousness and can discern their true nature. At the end, there is no more confusion. CSH has a similar experience at the end. She is able to discern that this “dream” is not too good to be true… the photos of her happiness are the proof. This is reality and not a dream. So their journey are quite similar. At the end, both can distinguish dream from reality.
Another parallel between the drama and this tale is that Alice’s personality resembles Cha Soo Hyun’s character a lot. Both are curious, eager to help and both make mistakes. CSH’s curiosity is visible as she keeps trying new things with KJH (eating ramyeon at a stop area, chicken gizzards aso). Moreover, her new experiences are often linked food… just like Alice who keeps trying drinks, cookies and mushrooms in order to know what the effects will be. Another aspect is their loneliness. Alice is either talking to herself or talking about her cat Dinah which she seems to be missing a lot or she can’t stop talking to others (the duchess, aso). She feels lonely in this world. But the main common denominator is the loss of identity and their quest to discover who they really are. CSH’s loss of identity is palpable in the episode 7. She mentions
episode 7
So it means
for the first time, she is living as Cha Soo Hyun. Notice in her next words, she
uses her own name, like f. ex. “I’m no longer the Cha Soo Hyun who is crazy about
the hotel”. She has already found a part of herself the moment she uses her own
name. Alice is put in a similar situation. In the chapter II, she wonders about
her own identity. Then she remembers her friend Ada and Mabel and realizes that
she can not be Ada and Mabel. Later, the White Rabbit calls her Marianne, the
pigeon confuses her to a snake. The Cater pillar is the one who asks Alice: WHO
ARE YOU? Alice had already questioned her own identity before, yet the caterpillar
is the one who confronts her with that question openly. As you can see, Alice
and CSH use both names in order to find their own identity. However, there is a
huge difference between these two characters. While in the tale Alice in
Wonderland, the focus is on growth and becoming an adult, CSH has a different
journey. For her, it is to discover her own inner child. The more episodes
aired, the more CSH became cheerful, even her secretary JMJ pointed out that
CSH was behaving like in the past. So their journey is quite the opposite. CSH
has lived for a long time as an adult and could never enjoy being an adolescent
and child. Alice goes through the adolescence in the book, just like our
heroine. CSH takes her distance from her mother and at the end, she is able to
reconcile with her as she has found her own identity and her own life. Sure,
when she talked to her mother, she hadn’t gone back to her KJH’s side, yet CSH
had changed.
Finally,
the Queen of heart and the King remind us a lot of Chairman Kim and her son
JWS. The latter acts behind his mother’s back, just like in Alice. The Chairman
Kim owns a chessboard which is quite similar to the deck of cards. Both queens are
threatening a lot and even trying to give death sentences. Their world is quite
violent and brutal so that both Alice and CSH are rejecting it at the end.
To sum up, the
drama Encounter and Alice in Wonderland have a lot of points in common:
The journey of a heroine
The importance of time and childhood
Loss of identity and search for identity
The visible growth of the main character
Confusion between dream and reality
Some characters are quite similar
At the end of her journey, CSH found her true identity and personality. She has found her inner child, although she is still an adult. That’s why we see this painting at the end of Encounter.
episode 16
Since KJH
has always been the more mature one (f. ex. enduring hard times with good
memories, his letter at the end, his bet in the episode 16), the man
embodies KJH’s personality: full of wisdom and knowledge and the little girl
resembles CSH because of her childish side… she likes teasing
KJH.
Nature plays a huge part in this drama. JH is actually a representative of nature, either in the form of the wind, the sun or the tree. To be more precise, KJH is often associated to the air (wind, butterfly), while our heroine is revealed to be linked to water due to the presence of the sea. First, the drawings underlines this aspect. Striking is that the sea is represented in the two following pictures:
episode 1
episode 6
One might say that the sea is illustrated here because in these two episodes, JH and CSH were close to the sea: Cuba and Sokcho. Yet, this doesn’t explain everything because in the third episode, the sea is often seen as they are in Sokcho, however the drawing represented our heroine trapped by a fence and window. She was forced to stay immobile. Furthermore in the episode 10, JH and CSH were in Cuba, yet the garden of Grandfather Samuel was the main topic of the drawing. As you can observe, the location as such doesn’t explain the presence of the sea in the drawings. Moreover, in the second drawing the sea is here dangerous due to the waves, the latter are referring to the people trying to stop them from getting close to each other.
Therefore we need to examine when the sea is shown in this drama. The first episode starts with CSH standing in front of a window looking at the sea.
episode 1
She is in Sokcho and the manager is briefing her about the reservations and the future opening. Interesting is although CSH’s face is expressionless, the viewer can sense that for her, looking at the sea is relaxing. In the episode 6, she explains why this hotel was so built (view to the sea and the mountain in order to relax and get closer to nature). It becomes clear that she has been missing nature and especially the sea. Yet, in this scene the sea looks so far away and the window serves as a shield. It was as if CSH was forced to admire nature, here the ocean, from far away, behind the window. She looks like trapped in that hotel which reminds us of a prison, so in order to feel better, the big view gives her the impression that she is not dead. However, if you take a closer look at the window, you’ll see the bars… so the form of the window reinforces the idea of a prison but in a bigger dimension. The sea appears again, when JH is listening to music and relaxing.
episode 1
The ocean has the same effect on him, nonetheless he is above the sea and doesn’t touch it at all. He is not really looking at it, he is rather dreaming. Both are in a similar position in reality, yet CSH is further away from the sea than JH and CSH seems to be more longing. For our main progatonist, it is a matter of his own choice, he is not that interested. We saw him taking more pictures of the city and people than the sea at such. Arrived in Cuba, CSH seizes the opportunity to see the sunset at Malecon beach, however the manager recommends her to go to Morro Cabana because the view is more spectacular. So her decision shows that she is attracted to the sea and nature as such. Nonetheless, she has to climb that mountain in order to enjoy the spectacle.
episode 1
If we compare her position to the first scene, then we notice that she is still far away from the ocean. However, she has been able to escape from her prison. For the first time, she feels free. But her freedom is just temporal. I had described before that the view of the sunset at Malecon beach had a magical moment: this marks CSH’s awakening.
episode 1
I couldn’t help myself, while watching this scene, thinking about two stories. The first is the legend of Aphrodite’s birth and the second is the sleeping beauty. The legend of Aphrodite says that blood coming from the sky (Uranus genitalia) fell into the sea, creating white foam… and the goddess of love and sex was born. The sleeping beauty is awakened by the prince’s kiss. In both stories, we have something in common: birth and awakening which are quite similar. Since the sun often embodies JH, the sunset in the ocean can be seen as JH kissing CSH and bringing her back to life. The person is like reborn, she symbolizes love for JH who for the first time is attracted by a woman. I mean, she caught his attention earlier but her reaction at the sunset had a huge effect on him. Nevertheless, CSH is still far away from the ocean. For me, the sea embodies CSH’s true personality so that we come to the conclusion that water is her true element.
As the story progresses, we can observe how CSH and JH gets closer to each other and the sea is also getting closer to CSH as well. In the episode 3, we have three scenes where the ocean is in the background.
episode 3: They meet again in Sokcho
First, due to the painting affair, CSH has to travel to Sokcho and for the first time, we see her wandering around the hotel, walking on docks looking at the sea. Striking is in the first picture, JH is taking pictures of the sea and CSH is walking downstairs. She is still above the sea. So JH’s attitude towards the sea seems to have changed and their encounter has an effect on CSH. She didn’t expect him there. What caught my attention is the closer they are to the water, the happier and the more relieved CSH feels. In the evening, she can even smile and play happily without any worries and shackles. Another observation is the effect of the sea on both of them: in the second picture above, JH confides to her and she listens. In the episode 4, CSH is confiding to him, while she thinks, he is sleeping.
The closer she is to the sea, the more she reveals about herself.
The sea plays a huge role, as it reveals her true personality (her own thoughts, her own feelings). This explains the need of CSH to look at the sea in the episode 1 and 6 from the window. She needs the sea in order to feel better. She shows more and more her true feelings and personality. She is revealing herself little by little. It looks like the sea helps them to open up.
episode 9
In this scene, JH was reading a book and this sentence about the sea attracted his attention: “If the sea’s job is to make waves, mine is to think of you”. When JH was living in Sokcho, separated from CSH, he visited the places they had been in order to seek comfort. He had the impression that CSH was close to him. Due to all these events, he had already linked the sea to CSH. Moreover, when CSH appears in this scene, JH is again reading and not looking at the ocean. I sense that it must be somehow painful for him to look at the sea after their last phone call (“no news, good news”). In this picture, we see the wind moving the book pages, however we see the waves in the background moved by the wind. We could interpret, JH as wind brings in CSH’s heart emotions to life. He makes waves, something that CSH has no control over. This explains why in the first picture above, we see the sea and the waves… CSH as sea and JH as wind are visible there. However, the difference between the waves is huge… CSH is in the first picture of my post really back to life, while in the episode 9, she has finally admitted that she couldn’t live without him. She is finally able to confess how much she missed him and how much he means to her, yet she doesn’t confess his love for him. While he runs towards her, she just walks slowly. To conclude, she is not entirely true to herself, she is definitely restraining herself. Notice that she is not touching the sea. She is just very close to water, that’s how the restraint is visible.
Striking is that in the episode 10, the viewer see how KJH walks to the same spot he was seen in the episode 1 and rests there after meeting Grandfather Samuel. This underlines that KJH feels the need to be close to the sea. He went directly there unlike in the first episode. Moreover, he is not listening to music. His attitude is really different. To me, it outlines that our hero is missing CSH a lot. While in the garden, the stars in the sky made him think of her, here the sea makes him think of his girlfriend. The climax is shown in the episode 11:
episode 11
CSH and JH have their feet in the ocean, they are enjoying the beach and the waves. There is no distance between CSH and the sea any longer, which means CSH has found back her real personality and she is enjoying her new found freedom. She is outside, running freely and there is no window or dock separating her from the sea.
And if we look back at the drawing from the episode 6, the waves are here the enemies because JH has forced them to react. The presence of JH as wind created waves, since the wind is the cause of waves. He brings enemies in CSH’s world, the sea. They are forced to reveal themselves.
However, the last drawing showing the presence of water is in the episode 13.
episode 13
This time, the sea or a a lake seems to be frozen. This drawing represents CSH’s inner world, her last wall… which KJH is unaware of its existence as he is walking on the same side. Since he is by her side, he believes that he has achieved his goal (being as close as possible to her), yet he is wrong. This picture reveals the invisible barrier. Notice, we have here a mirror as the lake reflects their bodies which will mislead KJH. He won’t notice how he is pushed away, after his girlfriend meets his mother. The meeting is shown in the form of the white butterly leaving CSH’s body. This is the real blow which makes CSH change her mind. The frozen lake represents the last wall CSH had build around her. She is still somehow trapped and not entirely free.
credit to @utkim (forum soompi)
This gif illustrates perfectly my interpretation about nature and walk. CSH is in the dark, as if it was the night, since we can see two stars. Yet there is no moon. KJH is the only one living as he is walking. KJH is the wind and CSH is the sea. Notice that there is no wave before, the sea is calm. While approaching her, KJH creates a huge wave so that there is a lot of foam, bulbs of air.The wind brings movement and life to the sea. Their reunion creates something magical and huge. The big wave outlines the positive effect of KJH in CSH’s life: full of movement, excitement and joy.
This drama is really interesting because each episode starts and ends with a drawing. Each pictured scene doesn’t just serve as an introduction to the main topic of the episode, but also helps to understand the characters and their situation. However, if the drawings are all put together, you will notice a common denominator, the presence of nature. And each time, its presence is increasing. But now let us go back to the first episode and the introduced drawings.
episode 1
episode 1
So far, two worlds are introduced: the castle, where the princess is living and the green land where our main character is reading a book. The atmosphere of the first image is gloomy and rather suffocating. It is night, yet the moon is not shining at all. The moon is even hidden by the palace. Under the yellow arrow, you observe the princess leaving the castle on her own, going through the forest full of thorns,
episode 1
until she arrives in a new world, where the moon and sun are shining at the same time. There, a man is reading a book, until he notices her and stands up. Both are facing each other. Here, the first drawing represents Cha Soo Hyun’s world, the modern civilization, whereas the second drawing embodies Cuba, where KJH will meet her. So the castle could be seen as a representation of Donghwa Hotel and Taegyeong Group. CSH is the CEO of Donghwa Hotel and she has just opened a new resort close to the sea. When the viewer sees her for the first time, she is already looking at the sea. She appears emotionless, yet we can see that the sea has some positive effects on her. She is calm.
episode 1
Later, she explains how she developed the hotel. She wanted her future clients to rest by having a view of the sea or of the mountain. As you can see, she perceives nature as something positive, which can help someone to relax. Now, if we connect this to her trip on Cuba (her desire to watch the sunset at a certain beach), the viewer realize what nature means a lot to CSH. For her, nature is beautiful, can help people to relax and enjoy their time. However, the picture above shows that she can not get close to nature, as the window is separating her from the sea. The window could be perceived as a prison window due to the iron bars. This underlines first that CSH is living in a different world, far away from nature, and that she can not live like she would like. The other drawings show her living in a castle or pavilion, surrounded by people or by a fence, or trapped by a window
episode 3
or even attached to a building.
episode 2 (credit to @Jemrie, forum soompi)
To conclude, she is not just immobile, as she can not move, she lives in an urban world that is suffocating her and she can usually only escape from it through her paintings. The paintings function as a window to a different world, where her fantasy and her feelings are not contrived,
episode 5
however it is not enough, since her biggest desire is to be close to nature as she likes observing nature (sunset). That’s why she was so determined to reach the beach in order to watch the sunrise, no matter what (broken taxi, no money, no phone). We shouldn’t forget that CSH is determined to renovate the hotel in Cuba without changing the garden, even refusing to put a swimming pool. She even outlined that the strength of this property was the garden. As you can see, she values the hotels based on natural elements: garden, sea, mountain. She wants people to feel close to nature through her hotels. Notice that after watching the scene where JH was looked down by her ex-mother-in-law (episode 6), she was standing in front of a huge window looking at the sea. At some point, you could sense that looking at the sea had this calming effect on her. For her, nature is a source of strength. Sure, she is a princess in the eyes of many, yet there is one person who perceives her differently. This is not a coincidence that in the episode 5, driver Nam compared our protagonist to a flower. He explained to CSH that no one can stop a flower from blossoming. As you can see, CSH is like a beautiful flower that has been “put behind a glass” by her mother and ex-family. A flower needs fresh air and water in order to live and that’s what JWS is not able to understand. He realized that in their marriage she was suffocating, hence he released her. In reality, he just created a bigger cage for CSH: Donghwa hotel.
However, our heroine is not just associated to a flower. She is often linked to birds.
episode 9
First, look at the bird sitting on her lap in the gif above (episode 2). Then don’t forget the white howl she offered to JH (episode 2). But most importantly, just before the accident happened in Cuba, a bird appeared on KJH’s table at the cafe. The bird was announcing their fateful encounter.
episode 1
In the episode, we see this taking. She looks like a flying bird.
episode 10
Don’t forget that JWS is always filmed indoors, in suffocating rooms with no windows so that you have the impression, he is living in a prison, even worse, in a buried coffin due to his preference of rectangles and brown/black as colors. However, in his mind, this beautiful flower needed a protector that’s why he is helping her behind her back. She is like a flower with JWS as a gardener who ensures that she doesn’t get hurt. Donghwa hotel can be perceived as a greenhouse, where everyone can look at CSH and even gossip about her. He is just the gardener protecting her. By doing so, he feels that the flower sooner or later will realize what he has done to her so that she will smile beautifully to him like a flower and she will come back to his side. However, the difference between JWS and Nam is that the latter only compared her to one flower, while the other associated her to many flowers (episode 10). For Nam, she was fragile and unique, for our second lead, a lot of flowers looked like her, unaware that his words meant that she was nothing special.
But let’s go back to the drawings… they have all something in common: nature is always present, in the beginning (episode 1, 3, 4) less, but the more episodes were aired, the more nature prevails, whereas the modern civilization disappears little by little therefore there is no castle at the end… just time or moon or sun or stars (drawing from the episode 13, 14, 15 and 16), since Donghwa and Taegyeong Group represent no thread any longer. Nature has won over modern civilization. The reason is simple. First, nature plays a huge part in CSH’s life. Only when she is surrounded by nature (like drawing 1), she can feel free. Cuba is such a place. It has also become a meaningful place for her because she could do anything she wanted without being in the center of the attention. If we look at the first picture above, you can see that the trees are black and without leaves indicating that this is winter and nature is sleeping. We can interpret this scene as if her passionate nature was sleeping, oppressed. In her dark world, where she is so small and powerless, she is also like a flower that is sleeping or has not bloomed yet.
episode 11
In my opinion, JWS and his mother represent the opposite world. Wealth and their social status are associated to civilization and modern world which are symbolized in the drawings 1, 3, 4, 5 and 11 (castle, pavilion, street lamps, road, windows, fence, wheels aso). That’s why CSH can never be happy with them. This is not random that JWS is always concerned about his image and appearance (he went to the shop because he wanted to impress a picky woman, his ex-wife), as he believes this matters in order to seduce someone. He even bought an expensive dress for CSH. Appearance is linked to artificiality, the opposite of simplicity and naturalness. As you can see, image means a lot to JWS, but it is different for CSH. KJH could move her heart because he wanted her to feel comfortable: the shoes, the jackets, the scarf. He always tries to give her his clothes. He always worries that she might get cold or hurt. A person obsessed with appearance would never accept such gestures because it wouldn’t look good but CSH is not thinking like that.
On the other hand, our hero JH is linked to nature in the different drawings. In the first drawing, he is living in a world so different from CSH: sunlight, green and tree. He is often standing next to the sun. If he is not represented, he is symbolized by the red butterfly (episode 4). The red butterfly has an important signification: it is an omen announcing huge changes in someone’s life. From my point of view, when the red butterfly touches CSH’s head, it was as if it brought back life and feelings to our protagonist. But don’t forget that in the story itself, JH introduced himself to CSH as fruit seller. In the same episode (1), CSH compares him herself to a fruit saying that he was like a white grape. Then in the following drawing,
episode 12
the beholder discovers that KJH’s home is a tree, whereas her ex-husband’s home reminds us of a coffin. In another episode, JWS uses the metaphor of the wind, when he warns CSH that she might get swayed away.
episode 8
Here the wind is actually a metaphor for JH. The wind knows no boundary, no limit as it is connected to the sky that’s why the wind should be perceived as the epitome of freedom. Moreover, by asking her not to let herself blow away, JWS actually wants her to remain in his world (“rectangle/frame”) because if she allows this, she will leave his world and won’t be able to come back. Furthermore, by associating JH to the wind, he is implying that her relationship with JH is doomed as the wind is something untouchable. You can not remain by the side of the wind, you can feel it but that’s it. To conclude, our hero is often associated with products coming from the nature: tree, butterfly, wind, grape, sun and fruit. The tree offers protection and rest for birds.
And this is another evidence that JH and CSH are meant for each other. A bird can only feel free and comfortable in the air… with the wind. On the other hand, JWS just compares her to flowers. JWS sent many flowers and even wrote that these resembled her. So the note and the number of flowers give the impression that CSH is not unique and special. This contrasts so much with JH’s mind: “among a multitude of stars, one star stares at me.” So for him, CSH is an unique star that he can distinguish from others… for JWS, it is different. In the end, his gesture shows that CSH is not really meaningful but he doesn’t realize that. Funny is that he thinks a little note, he can woo her so easily… JWS is far from being well educated: his expression skills and knowledge about book, arts and poetry are rather low and poor.
episode 8
Since Cha Soo Hyun is represented by the moon and the bird, KJH by the sun, the air and the wind, this explains why the beholder often witnesses our protagonists flying a lot in the drawings (episode 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16). The sky is their natural environment, hence our couple is often walking and even climbing a tower.
episode 8
Don’t forget that our couple is represented by the moon, the sun and the star. As conclusion, the sky, even the space are their real element.
episode 7
Sure, the drawings also reflect the evolution of CSH’s situation and her relationship with JH. At some point, she has freed herself, she is no longer captive like in the drawing from the episode 3 and 4. She is also not surrounded by enemies, like the snakes in the episode 4.
episode 4
episode 15
Her emotions have changed as well. She is no longer cold, no sleeping flower. She is warming up, her emotions are starting showing up. As conclusion, nature symbolizes here liberty, but more precisely, the sky and space are the real symbols for freedom. Only at the end, she will be entirely free (no more guilt or insecurities). She is no longer bound by the earth or time, she has become a real moon. She is shining as the sun is shining next to her. As conclusion, the higher our protagonists are/ fly, the freer they are.
episode 16: the climax of their love and freedom
episode 6
We shouldn’t forget that nature can also be dangerous. Notice that once CSH has escaped from her cage, she always has to face enemies and adversities. And in nature, her enemies are represented by the snakes, waves and the wolf. As you can see, nature is also connected to negative aspects. Nonetheless, this underlines that the problems and enemies CSH and JH have to face are natural phenomenons. This is nothing special but on their journey (drawing from the episode 5 and 6), they need to be together and work together. At the end, the sun has never shone so brightly. The MIL, the director Choi, her ex-husband are symbolized by the waves, the snakes and the wolf but since CSH and KJH never gave up and remained firm, the waves, the wolf and the snakes disappeared. In the drawing of the episode 6, KJH always serves her as a guide, he is her strength because he is the sun that warms her so that the flower can blossom beautifully. As for the wolf, the viewer shouldn’t forget that wolfs were used to be associated to death and danger in the past (see for example the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood), while the image of the wolf in modern stories has nowadays changed, since they are in danger. To conclude, the danger coming from nature are linked to the earth (the forest of thorns serving as border and fence, sea, snakes, time, wolf) contrasting to the space and sky, the epitome of freedom. In the universe, there is no limit of time and space.
Bebebisous33s' analyses in K-Dramaland and Manhwas 