The Third Charm: Episode 15
by SailorJumun
In its penultimate episode, The Third Charm continues its raging storm of grief and misery. The cold autumn tears our characters down, and with an even colder winter ahead, things are starting to look completely hopeless. Our characters can stand tall and persevere, but at the end of the day, they’re still not sure what to persevere towards.
EPISODE 15 RECAP
Young-jae is in a pojangmacha, practically lifeless as she drinks soju. She picks up her phone and calls Joon-young, admitting that she had no one else to call. She starts crying as says that everyone ends up sick or leaving her.
“I’ll leave too,” she concludes. She struggles to stand, only to fall and knock her table over. She gets some nasty cuts on her hand and knee from the broken glass, but she doesn’t seem to care.
Joon-young, however, is freaking out as he hears the commotion over the phone. Someone takes Young-jae’s phone and gives Joon-young the location, making him bolt for the nearest taxi.
He reaches the pojangmacha and finds Young-jae passed out, bleeding pretty badly. He runs over to a pharmacy and comes back with some disinfectant and bandages. She’s conscious by then, and she weakly tells him that she can make it home by herself.
Joon-young watches her walk past, swaying, until she trips over her heels. He’s trying so hard not to intervene, but seeing her like that, he helps her stand and guides her all the way to her apartment.
Once they’re at her door, he hands her the bag of medicine. She takes it, revealing a long scar on her wrist. (Holy shit… I didn’t think the drama would go that far.) Alarmed, Joon-young tries to pull her wrist closer, but she panics and shuts the door in his face.
On both sides of the door, Joon-young and Young-jae are frozen where they are. Joon-young eventually exits the apartment complex, but he’s so shaken up that he has to sit down.
His phone rings and he sees that it’s Se-eun. When he answers, she asks if he’s at home. He hesitates before lying that he is. “I’m sorry,” Se-eun suddenly says. “I wanted to tell you that I was sorry.” She wishes him goodnight and hangs up.
Young-jae sits on her living room floor, looking at the scar on her wrist. Then, following routine, she switches on the TV to watch another home video. This one is where the framed photo came from, with her and Ho-chul playing with So-ri outside.
Seeing how happy they all were, carelessly laughing and fooling around, Young-jae bursts into tears all over again.
The next day, Joo-ran moves into the hospital to begin chemotherapy. She’s in a lot of pain, and food only makes her nauseous, so she mostly stays in bed.
She checks her phone and finds dozens of missed calls and texts. After reading one text from Noo-ri saying that she’s missed at the salon, she shuts the phone off.
Meanwhile, Joon-young is prepping for work when Young-jae’s scar comes to mind. He’s so lost in thought that he accidentally cuts his finger.
He bandages it up just as Se-eun comes in to deliver lunch and return his planner. She notes that their families will be meeting soon, and they agree that it doesn’t feel real. Since he still seems out of it, she asks if they should move to Portugal like he suggested. He doesn’t look too sure of the idea now, though.
Young-jae is woken up by the sound of her doorbell, and she’s surprised to find Soo-jae waiting outside. She wheels him into the apartment, and he takes the emptiness in with tears in his eyes. He chides her for living this way, saying she might as well move in with him, but she doesn’t answer.
Soo-jae tries to get some food in Young-jae and keeps the conversation casual by saying that he can’t reach Joo-ran. When Young-jae still doesn’t speak up, he gives up and decides to give her some real talk.
He mentions their mom and how she’d always say that he had to be the strong mountain of the family. But he admits that after his accident, he’d killed himself in his head hundreds of times.
A tear falls as Young-jae nods with understanding. Soo-jae continues that he read a book that said even the tiniest bit of faith could move a mountain. It reminded him of their mom and gave him the necessary faith to keep living.
“Young-jae,” he says. “I know it’s not easy. After all, it took me ten years.” After they finish their meal, Soo-jae settles into his scooter to leave. But before he can, Young-jae tells him that Joo-ran is actually sick.
We then cut to Joo-ran relaxing outside, where she notices many other patients smiling and chatting. She calls Young-jae and correctly guesses that she must be walking around in the sun somewhere.
When Young-jae asks how she’s doing, Joo-ran answers that being in this environment finally made her illness feel real. What she didn’t expect was for the other patients to not look sad.
And she thinks that’s the key. She thinks that these patients are able to let everything go because they accept that they’re sick. She removes her knitted hat and wonders if she should do that too—admitting she’s sick, admitting she wants a hug.
“This autumn of ours is very sentimental,” Joo-ran says, smiling. She tells Young-jae to stop wandering around looking sad and to go home. Young-jae says that she will and hangs up with a sigh.
Joo-ran’s smile falters, and she tries her best to reform it. She then gets up to head inside, stopping short when she realizes that there’s someone there to greet her: Soo-jae. She looks scared and ashamed as he wheels up to her.
Soo-jae presents her with a flower, saying that it symbolizes the depths of hardship. She starts to cry and though he’s emotional too, he merely compliments her new haircut. He calls her crying sexy and wipes the tears away, getting a small smile out of her. Oh, my heart. So sweet.
After work, Se-eun walks by a shoe store and is drawn to a particular pair of sophisticated-looking heels. She goes in to try them on, but the biggest size they have is too small for her. She’s disappointed but decides to buy them anyway. As she leaves, she gets a call from Joon-young and agrees to meet with him, her expression sad.
Ri-won and Sang-hyun join Mom and Dad’s shopping trip for the meeting with the in-laws. Dad takes in Sang-hyun’s stay-at-home-dad attire and suggests they buy something for him too.
Sang-hyun is hesitant to try on anything expensive but eventually gives in when Ri-won says that it’s been a while since he’s worn anything stylish.
That night, Se-eun meets Joon-young at the park by his restaurant. They sit together in silence until he says, “The heart really is something. I can’t seem to control it.” He reveals that he lied and that he was really with Young-jae last night.
Se-eun hangs her head and says that she’d feel better if he wasn’t such an honest person. “So right now,” she says, still not looking at him, “I really hate you.” Joon-young hangs his head as well, letting the silence seep back in.
Later, after parting with Se-eun, Joon-young treats the whole family at his restaurant. But since Dad isn’t a fan of the wine, Joon-young offers to bring beer. He buys the beer and sits outside the convenience store for a while, needing some alone time.
When he returns, he finds Ri-won standing outside and watching the family through the window. She tells him that she never saw the point in marriage, but her opinion often sways when she sees their parents and how happy they are.
Ri-won still doesn’t think marriage would be good for her and Sang-hyun but admits that her thinking could change over time. She’s glad that Joon-young is getting married, at least, which seems to make him feel worse.
The night goes on, and Dad gets thoroughly drunk. When the family piles into the car to leave, Dad clings onto his son and slurs how proud he is—not for Joon-young getting married, but for Joon-young taking huge steps by taking on responsibilities.
Mom tells Dad to stop being cheesy and shoves him into the car, lol. Joon-young smiles and waves goodbye as they drive off. Once they’re out of sight, he huffs, conflicted, and puts his face in his hands.
Se-eun calls her mom and wishes her and the family a safe trip when they drive up tomorrow. She hangs up, and her gaze goes to the heels that she bought earlier. She thinks back to last night, after she’d found Joon-young’s planner. She’d turned around to return it and caught him running down the street to catch a cab (after his phone call with Young-jae). Se-eun didn’t know what to think.
She’d stayed in her car for a long time until she finally called him. So when he lied about being at home, she’d already known. And she hung up before breaking into tears, narrating that it was her suspicion that made him lie. In the present, she lies in bed and stares at a picture of her and Joon-young, though her eyes gravitate back to those heels.
Young-jae arrives to her apartment complex and stops just outside, seeing someone waiting for her. We cut to her sitting on a bench with Joon-young, ready to spill about everything that’s happened.
“I couldn’t keep living… I couldn’t keep living, so I ran away to here,” she prefaces. “Sometimes it’s like it was yesterday, and other times, it’s like it was a long time ago.”
We flash back to So-ri’s accident and the anguish that ensued. After the funeral, Ho-chul had tried to give Young-jae space so they could both mourn. But it only drove Young-jae to alcohol.
One day, Ho-chul came home from work and found an almost empty bottle of liquor but no Young-jae. Thinking the worst, he searched the house and then ran out to search all of their usual spots, calling her phone and getting nothing. Finally, he went to So-ri’s grave, where, sure enough, Young-jae was sitting.
She’d mumbled that So-ri’s death was her fault, and Ho-chul had told her not to think that way. He took her home, and she eventually got sick with a fever. He urged her to eat and take her medicine, but she refused, saying she felt terrible for eating, for taking medicine, and for living. Because So-ri couldn’t; she was gone. Again, Ho-chul told her that it wasn’t her fault and that things would get better.
However, Young-jae tells Joon-young, things only got worse. She fell deeper into alcoholism, always staring at that framed family picture. Having had enough, Ho-chul grabbed the liquor bottle and the frame, angering her.
They got in a struggle as she demanded the frame back, only breaking apart when the frame hit the floor and shattered. They stared at the shards in shock until Ho-chul furiously blurted out, “Why didn’t you just buy her the damn cat?!” Ow, I really felt that.
He started to apologize, but when she looked up, he knew that the damage was already done. They sat apart from each other, Ho-chul dozing off and waking to see that she disappeared. He found their bathroom locked and panicked to hear nothing but running water. He broke in and his eyes widened at the sight in front of him.
Young-jae was taken to the hospital, and we see that her wrist is bandaged up. She looked up at a crying Ho-chul and expressed how sorry she felt now that they were out of the house.
But in that house, she couldn’t think about anything else. From the couch to the dining table to Ho-chul’s eyes, all she saw was So-ri. She ceased her own crying, having come to a decision: she wanted a divorce.
Joon-young silently listens as Young-jae concludes that despite her wanting to turn back time, she’s okay now. She still thinks about So-ri all the time, which drives her crazy, but she at least won’t run away from it.
Joon-young sheds a tear as she turns to him and says that he doesn’t have to worry about her. She has many people who worry for her like Soo-jae and Joo-ran, and if she thinks about them, she can live.
When Joon-young still doesn’t respond, she says, “I hope you live well. Sincerely.” Overwhelmed, he can only give her a small nod.
She gets up to go inside, and he stays where he is, thinking back to all the times he’d chided her for living poorly. Now that he knows what she’s gone through, his words and actions seem so harsh to him.
He runs into the apartment complex and grabs hold of Young-jae’s arm. They both have tears in their eyes as she faces him and says, “You’re giving me solace again. I don’t deserve it.”
They can’t stop crying, and they look as if they wish so badly that things were different. But Young-jae can only say that he needs to go.
He doesn’t want to but understands that he should. So, slowly, reluctantly, he lets go of her arm.
COMMENTS
I’ve realized that when watching this drama, I am Joon-young in every situation. I feel worse for Se-eun every episode, and I feel so much worse for Young-jae every episode. I just feel worse for everybody. It doesn’t feel like we’re reaching the end of the drama because there’s still a lot to wrap up, yet there’s no sign of anything even beginning to wrap up. Joon-young and Se-eun’s engagement, in particular, is in most danger of not getting the proper resolution. I think we all know that they’re going to call it off at this point, and I’ve accepted that, but I don’t want any of it to be rushed. Their characters deserve better than that.
After all, this engagement doesn’t just involve Joon-young and Se-eun—it involves their families as well. Se-eun probably spent more time with Joon-young’s family than Joon-young himself. While he was in Portugal, she practically moved in with his folks, getting to know them and coming to love them. And though Joon-young didn’t do the same with her family, he still stepped into their lives as their daughter’s fiancé. There are a lot of feelings at stake here, and he’s well aware of it, if not completely terrified by it. He’s going to break a lot of hearts, subsequently breaking his own.
We didn’t get to hear much of Joon-young’s thoughts this episode, but I think it’s pretty clear. He knows that he can’t be there for Se-eun wholeheartedly, meaning he can’t be with her as a husband. It’s not fair to either of them to jump into a marriage when he’s unsure of his feelings. Yeah, it was bad timing for Young-jae to come back into town, but in a way, it was also good timing. If Joon-young came to these thoughts later on in marriage, it would’ve been all the more devastating. He’s cutting it close—the freaking day before the family meeting—but better he do something now than later.
I think Se-eun is a good character, in that she’s sweet and understanding but has her selfish moments like anybody else. She can tell that Joon-young’s heart is too full of Young-jae for her. Whether she knows why, I can’t say, but it’s enough to let her know that this relationship won’t work anymore. Joon-young is in a weird place because while his heart is full of Young-jae, it’s not dead-set on romancing her again. It’s not enough to garner a big reunion, but it’s too much to really move on. Essentially, his tie with her is too strong to cut, so he needs her in his life, and vice versa. Who knows, maybe they’ll stay as friends and this friendship will hinder the potential for other lovers. But if that’s what makes them content, if that is the future they want, then more power to them.
One thing I really wanted to note was the symbolism with the shoes. It’s been used a lot throughout the drama, starting with the couple shoes that Joon-young and Young-jae used to wear. After Young-jae’s career-changing photoshoot, she had to switch out of those shoes to wear her, I guess we can call them, “adulting” heels. There’s no doubt that she cherished her old shoes, but after some time, they weren’t the right style for her anymore. Things got complicated. Things changed. Because of that image, the scene with Se-eun and her heels have me wondering if it’s a similar thing. But instead of it being the right time to switch out her shoes, she’s trying to force it. They don’t fit quite right, but she wants to wear them anyway. (Thanks for the subtle hint, Show; I get it.) It’s not just Se-eun, though. Ho-chul tried his best to hold onto Young-jae and their marriage, but with their daughter gone, it was no use. Once again, things got complicated and things changed. And it wasn’t anyone’s fault; that’s just how life can be.
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Tags: Esom, Seo Kang-joon, The Third Charm
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1 Kurama
November 18, 2018 at 12:53 PM
So much crying, Esom and SKJ had to be exhausted emotionaly to film all thoses scenes. But they were very convincing.
There was no bad people in this story, just people with feelings they can't help themself to feel.
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spazmo
November 18, 2018 at 3:40 PM
i am impressed with Seo Kang Joon's performance in this role, he kept pace with Esom's fabulous portrayal of her character.
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manette
November 18, 2018 at 5:04 PM
Well said! What a wondeful performance from the actors. Love SKJ more and more. Still can't move on from this drama!
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BdxPelik
November 18, 2018 at 5:52 PM
I HAVE cried that much in one day, but that's because of my actual problems. I will forever be impressed with actors that can do that when those problems are not their own and fictional. They probably use their own bitter experiences to fuel them and that must be super exhausting.
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2 AlexDanno
November 18, 2018 at 1:35 PM
[Part 1] I'll bullet this up again, since my thoughts are all muddled tonight and this drama somehow makes me even more fatigued than my anaemia.
1: While I understand all of the reasons why YJ might have called JY above all others, I still wish she hadn't, and in her position I absolutely wouldn't have, no matter how depressed I'm capable of being.
2: That scene with JR calling YJ felt like blatant and clumsy exposition. The show has been pretty heavy-handed with its symbolism in some places, and misleading with it in others. I've kept track of feedback across various sites mostly because I was surprised by how annoyed this drama made me (I'm rarely commenting this often, or feeling this relieved to be approaching the end of a story). The comments have been harsh from both Korean viewers and international ones. It makes me wonder if JR's scene here was like a desperate attempt to explain away what this show was meant to be.
It fell flat. If I didn't feel it and had to be told it, then it's failed to reach me. I blame the writing wholeheartedly, because I honestly believe this show had potential. Maybe the reason I'm so agitated is because I feel like something that could have been amazing missed the mark.
3: I guess I can at least give the drama credit for not doing complicated gymnastic routines to avoid JY looking like a jerk. In that scene with SE he looked like a prime jerk but he took it on the nose. I can't believe he told her that he was with YJ in such vague terms, like her imagination wouldn't leap to the worst case scenario. It was unnecessary and cruel, and she doesn't deserve this.
This whole situation sucks. I get that he wanted to try and move on, and 'moving on' is a complicated thing. I fully believe that there are people you will love, and be in love with, forever. Even when it comes time to part ways with them. The trick is learning how and when to part ways, and reconcile the fact that your heart can hold them even whilst you love others and move in a different direction.
JY is not at that stage yet, unfortunately. I saw a great distinction somewhere online that JY and YJ were 'puppy love' and YJ and HC were 'adult love'. JY has not found someone appropriate to be his adult love yet. As sad as it is, he got with SE because she gave him everything he'd been looking for before and more, she flattered him and her attention helped him to develop himself and his self-respect. But it seems like she doesn't shake his heart like YJ once did, and like I hope someone new might do in the future (still not supporting a JY/YJ reunion) – his adult love.
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AlexDanno
November 18, 2018 at 1:37 PM
[Part 2] Isn't it just too damn heartbreaking that SE got caught in the middle of this? I am absolutely judging JY for letting things go this far. He was clearly uncertain and wavering since returning to South Korea, but let himself propose and meet her parents and string her along in spite of everything. He knows that she's becoming collateral damage and is not only continuing to drag it out, he's salting the wounds with his vague admission.
4: This is my first time feeling bad for HC, and it comes with a bit of revelation. When we saw HC and YJ for the first time at JY's restaurant, I couldn't believe the story had actually paired them off (how could JY move on from that if there would be a third charm?) and I was surprised at how cool and mannequin-like HC seemed, especially after I learned about the death of the child. Having not liked him or his attitude from the beginning, I rolled my eyes but thought no more of it.
But seeing the flashbacks in this episode went a long way to humanise him for me. Like YJ, he suffered greatly, but unlike YJ, he tried to be selfless in his grief and support her most of all. In one weak moment, it exploded outwards and led to her suicide attempt. She then deals a crushing blow to him at the hospital, and just like that, he lost the marriage as well as his daughter.
The home videos suggest that no matter how YJ and HC got together, they WERE happy. There was love, life and beauty. And even after their lives were shattered, HC honestly did try to support YJ as much as he could. He still lost everything. His behaviour with YJ at the restaurant and afterwards seems less flippant and more a restrained resignation. His leaving her was not him skipping out, it was him following YJ's wishes. “Everyone gets sick and leaves me”, eh, YJ? Stop telling people to leave then, yikes.
But you know what this makes me realise? I wonder how much of this story would be different if they'd only given more lip service and time to YJ's perspective. I wonder if I would have disliked her a lot less, and if sympathy would have come easier to me. I'm still critical of Esom's more subtle acting (I think she does overt emoting very well, but the 'I'm hiding my hurt inside' stuff failed to affect me, she felt cold and unreachable), and I'm critical of YJ based on what I saw on screen, but I'm even more critical of the writing.
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AlexDanno
November 18, 2018 at 1:39 PM
[Part 3] I'm torn in this strange position, where as it stands, I'm grateful I didn't see more YJ. But I also think the balance of the show was all wrong, and that more YJ might have changed things. JY got the lion's share of the perspective, and too much time was spent with secondary and minor characters. YJ remained an aloof person who failed to draw me in – in fact, the handling of her character (by writer or actress, I'm not even sure at this point) seemed to expose more and more things to raise my blood pressure.
If we'd seen more YJ, maybe we'd get to see moments where she let go of her 'mask' and had some more overt emotions to really get the character across to all viewers. To have her more laid bare might have gone a long way towards reaching even the most critical viewer to a degree that heaping tragedy on her friends and family to make her sympathetic wouldn't have been 'necessary'.
5: YJ's tragedy has moved JY to regret his actions and attitude, and he feels moved to cry and comfort her. Haven't I seen this before? Oh, wait...
Is this really the only way these writers know how to reconcile characters at this point? I can't even appreciate the tragic acting in this scene, because it feels like such a rinse and repeat.
Bring on the end. I'll only be sorry not to get a weekly dose of SKJ. That boy feels like he improved overnight, I never thought he was that good before AYHT but suddenly he's emoting like crazy and it's wonderful to watch. Bigger and better things for him, please!
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latebloomer
November 18, 2018 at 2:49 PM
I'm actually not heartbroken for SE. I think she knew that he didn't love her, but she wanted him so badly. The pair of heels is totally symbolic of that. She wants them so badly that she buys the wrong size since it's the only pair, but they just aren't going to fit right, and she isn't going to be able to wear them without pain.
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AlexDanno
November 18, 2018 at 2:58 PM
It's not that I'm heartbroken for her in that context now (I think I was in previous episodes though, I really wanted things to work out), it's more that I'm sad that she got dragged into such a mess when she loved him so much but he was hesitating at every step. Feels like she got used and strung along, and she was so emotionally invested that she tried to force it and live with it, like those wrong sized shoes.
I'm now 100% wanting her to break things off and take those shoes back to the store.
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Lurker
November 18, 2018 at 4:08 PM
Thank you very much for your analysis. I've been reading the recaps for weeks hesitating between watching and not watching but the only thing I got while reading those was pure frustration. I watched some extracts as well and my feelings for the little I've seen and read is exactly what you wrote. I love Seo Kang Joon and Esom... But personally I treasure my blood pressure more especially since I saw the end and it just feels like a huge waste of time. Thank God for the recaps... I avoided two frustrating series I was really looking forward this year namely "Something in the Rain" and "The Third Charm". I'm not the only one feeling this way... So I feel GREAT having avoided wasting 16 hours and more of my time.
thatstp
November 19, 2018 at 5:20 AM
But the thing is, she didn't get dragged in. She walked into it of her own volition. She almost pushed her way into his life. She's sweet but she knew his heart was only half in it. Any man that has to have reminders to spend time with you or do little sweet things for you isn't in love yet she smiled at the evidence of that. She is settling for his half-ass feelings.
AlexDanno
November 19, 2018 at 6:27 AM
@thatstp I think I'm phrasing this wrong or something. I'm saying that yes, SE entered the relationship willingly, but JY seems to have always been aware on some level that he was trying to force something that didn't fit. Viewers recognised quickly that something wasn't right, from his restrained expressions to his hesitations to propose.
But he rolled with it anyway. There's no evidence that she knew anything about his past relationship, or at what point she knew that YJ was his ex. She and JY had fun together and had genuine moments of warmth, and without our viewer omniscience how could she have been aware that his heart wasn't fully in it? It's not like she willingly signed up to be second best. So yes, she got dragged into his mess, because she wanted to believe in the best and that they were both invested in the relationship they had agreed to be in. Sounds familiar, actually.
It's obvious JY and SE are dead in the water, and I'm happy for that at this point. I'm regretful that she got hurt because of his dithering.
3 latebloomer
November 18, 2018 at 2:51 PM
I really like the relationship between Soo-jae and Joo-ran. They've finally come to a place where they can be open with each other. I'm even more invested in their relationship than in the main couple's.
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4 Mich
November 18, 2018 at 5:34 PM
sigh... am frustrated that JY didn't try to explain himself when he told Officer Min that he was with YJ. 'I was with Young-jae' just has so many connotations, and I wouldn't blame her imagination for running wild in this case.
one thing that really struck me when Young-jae was telling Ho-chul about how she felt was how she saw So-ri everywhere at home after she passed. i can relate; I lost my dog earlier this year (old age) and the first day (understandably) was the hardest. i couldn't even bring myself to go to the living room because there were so many memories of us playing together, him sleeping against the wall, lazing on the tiles. so, i can understand why YJ couldn't stand to be at home.
overall... so many emotions in this one ep >.<
locations:
- Eunhaeng Children's Park [은행어린이공원] (playground where YJ & Officer Min had a conversation): https://koreandramaland.com/listings/eunhaeng-childrens-park-%ec%9d%80%ed%96%89%ec%96%b4%eb%a6%b0%ec%9d%b4%ea%b3%b5%ec%9b%90/
- Yongsan The Prime [용산더프라임] (meta moments: the street that Se-eun walked after buying shoes, and the 7-11 Joon-young sat at having a drink are located around this complex. note that this is also Young-jae's apartment complex in the show.): https://koreandramaland.com/listings/yongsan-the-prime/
- Prazeres Cemetery (where So-ri is laid to rest in Portugal): https://koreandramaland.com/listings/prazeres-cemetery-cemiterio-dos-prazeres/
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Mich
November 19, 2018 at 1:51 AM
to add on! changed the link for Eunhaeng Children's Park: https://koreandramaland.com/listings/eunhaeng-childrens-park/
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AlexDanno
November 19, 2018 at 6:15 AM
Thank you for your hard work with the locations!
I'm very sorry for your loss. I remember that losing my dog was one of the hardest experiences in my lifetime. We were both 16 years old and had literally grown up together. It's going to be painful for you to be without your dog, but you were both luckier in life to have had your relationship.
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Mich
November 19, 2018 at 6:37 PM
thank you @alex8825 for your kind and comforting words. my doggo was 16 too when he passed! we spent many great years growing up together and it was just hard to have to let him go. there are days that I still wish he were around, especially on the bad, so that i'd be able to cuddle him. regardless, am very thankful to have had him in my life and that he was so well loved by those around him :)
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5 BdxPelik
November 18, 2018 at 5:42 PM
“Why didn’t you just buy her the damn cat?!”
Yes, that line, too, stabbed me in the heart and made me cry exactly like the depressed characters in this show.
I kept wondering why the black heels Se Eun bought got so much focus but the way you described it made perfect sense. Forcing herself into something that doesn't fit and cause pain; as in the marriage. Wow.
I'm so proud of YJ finally telling JY everything. Like you said, JY haven't said much to indicated his thoughts (in fact, did he even have many lines today??) but it's so apparent in his expressions that I almost feel like I can read his mind. You've done it again, SKJ, drawing me in with amazing acting skills.
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6 Kafiyah Bello
November 18, 2018 at 6:47 PM
I cried so hard this episode. Woah. First, I want to say all Hail Esom, she is AH-MAZING. The open with her drunk crying at the tent was raw. I think it was much more dramatic than her trying to actually hurt herself. Her fight with Ho-Chul was heartbreaking.
I just wanted to add that grief is selfish, it is one of the very few things that is given leeway for its selfishness. I think the writer did a good job portraying that. What Ho-Chul said about the cat was meant and not meant, and that is what made it so sad. They were both heartbroken and that was his way of reacting. These were the best written few scenes in this drama.
I have several problems with this drama, but they way grief is written is A+++.
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7 Lady Malfoy
November 18, 2018 at 8:21 PM
This drama has me big hurt. I'm so sick and tired and exhausted from it that I fast forward through it, but I'm so entrenched in it that I have to keep watching. I wanted a fluffy romcom and instead got a melodrama from hell that has me so deeply in my feelings I want to lay down immediately after watching an episode.
I am so glad this is finally ending but I'm so concerned as to how this is going to wrap up. Are we going to get an ending? Or is this journey just going to leave me even more deeply hurt and unsatisfied than I have been since the melodrama started? Only time will tell.
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Mich
November 18, 2018 at 8:41 PM
*hugs! we're all in it together >.<
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8 fogcity
November 18, 2018 at 10:18 PM
I think of Se Eun and the plastic surgeon as two sides of the same coin--they both chased after people who had already given their hearts away...The high heel metaphor was a little too on the nose. YJ should have been given her own episode to flesh out her side of the five year gap--how did she end up marrying the plastic surgeon? Why did they move to Portugal? I see so many comments disparaging YJ/Esom but I think it's partly because JY and then later Se Eun were given too much screen time and JY was given most of the narration. Also, I'm still convinced that too many fangirls are too obsessed over Seo Kang Jun's looks to be completely objective about JY's character.
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Kasumi
November 19, 2018 at 2:32 AM
Thank you for saying this. The drama spent more time exploring SE’s inner thoughts than YJ’s. We’ve only been given glimpses of YJ’s past before little Sori’s death. I’m glad their life was happy before the tragedy. How did the family end up in Portugal? Why did YJ leave her brother and BFF to move half way across the world? We will never know the answer to this. But let’s spend time on SE staring at the shoe!
The one thing the show did right was showing the different kinds of grief that is there and the different ways people deal with them. YJ, SJ, and JR all lost something irreplaceable and the way they try to cope is incredible and very well done
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9 Dorotka
November 18, 2018 at 11:54 PM
...and here I thought they can't pile more on Young Jae... 😢😢
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10 Dorotka
November 18, 2018 at 11:57 PM
That one sentence about the cat... ouch... (though I understand why it happened)....
...and it was again brave Young Jae who said "enough"...
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11 Toomuchtelly
November 19, 2018 at 12:30 AM
I know that the show is not everyone's cup of tea but I adore it. It is definitely tragic but in an honest way, not a makjang way. I am actually fine with YJ calling JY, it was an honest choice. He was/is the closest thing she has ever had to a person to lean on. Her brother and her best friend had always leaned on her and had only reversed positions because she had gone through something so horrible. JY without even knowing what exactly she had been through wanted to be there for her, however begrudgingly, that must have been a nice reprieve for her. She called him when the pain became too much for her to bear because he was her person, and I understood that. Was it a selfish choice, maybe, but it was one of the few selfish choices she had made in the show that I understood.
As JY, I am pretty sure Se-eun does not think JY is sleeping with YJ which is why he was vague about it. It was not to make her imagination run wild but to make it clear that he knows that no explanation will make it okay. Going to help an old friend would be fine but it was more than that, he still loves YJ and would rather not excuse himself. While these two may not be right for each other I do think SE knows him well enough to know that he would not go that far but the fact he can't let YJ go is the real problem.
I have already seen the last episode and I love how the show ends but at this point I was really worried about how the show was going to wrap up. It felt like too much was being left in the wind.
My favorite part of this episode was JR and SJ who have grown into one of my favorite aspects of the show. Their love is just the loveliest thing.
As for HC, he was fantastic in this episode. I really didn't like him but would never wish losing a child on anyone. When he said the line about the cat my heart shredded because you could also see the immediate regret in his eyes. Just so painful. Wonderfully acted.
Also, full disclosure, one of my brothers died a few years back, so I had to watch my folks deal with losing a child while dealing with my own grief. This drama has been cathartic in a way. The show does grief in its many forms really well.
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Kasumi
November 19, 2018 at 2:22 AM
I’m sorry for your loss.
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Mich
November 19, 2018 at 2:23 AM
thanks for sharing that perspective! yes, SE probably knows JY wouldn't betray her by sleeping with YJ. but the fact that she didn't even know that she was his ex to begin with, and not knowing much of their back story either (unless his parents filled her in, of which we're not privy to, of course).. am not surprised if it's all just one big question mark in SE's head. which then leads to her insecurity.
sorry to hear about your brother :( and thank you for shedding light on how the drama deals with grief. probably one of the aspects that viewers wouldn't understand as deeply if they hadn't gone through it themselves.
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12 laladaisical
November 19, 2018 at 11:46 AM
Brutal. This back half of episodes feel like a test screening for another show about grief. I keep thinking about YJ finally talking about her suicide attempt, her every day struggle to remain sane — it was so powerful, so hard to hear, that I believe JY became the audience surrogate in that moment, stunned into terrible, mute sympathy.
I think the worst part is knowing how happy she was, truly. I remember when she told JY she had done everything she wanted to do. It takes on more meaning now knowing the full depths of her despair, that she’s now living because she has to, that this life is almost like an afterlife. Just brutal.
This started out as a romance and became an examination of grief and loss and how we have to carve out something good from what we have left. She’s trying o get right with herself before she could ever entertain loving someone else again, and I commend the writers’ commitment to that.
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