Beanie level: Candy

I’ve been feeling more detached from current airing dramas more so than ever which made me go through my completed watch list and I remembered the beauty that was Queen In Hyun’s Man.

Oh, how I miss the old days of OTPs who were genuinely ride or die for each other with real stakes that made you actively shout at your screen rooting for their happily ever after. I don’t think we’ll ever see a FL again in modern dramas who runs through the streets barefoot just to desperately catch up to the love her life. Choi Hee Jin, was such an amazing FL who was passionate and ditsy, but never dumb and childish. She stood firmly by her beliefs and feelings and never wavered after receiving the same level of reciprocation.

I guess I’m just really missing that magical spark old kdramas gave me when I first started watching them and finding that in dramas nowadays is far too rare with writers and directors trying to modernize kdramas to be more practical and grounded like in the real world. I want my alien MLs, allergic to people MLs, scholar from 300 years ago MLs and mysterious night courior MLs. And give me the FLs who would go the mile for them, letting go of all their pride and composure, not being afraid to seem a little pathetic or pitiful in the process of doing so.

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    One of my most Fav shows, Choi her Jin was such a great character and I enjoyed how the time travel was smartly written.

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    I love that show, one of my favorite otps ever. And I said the same thing a while ago regarding kdramas and FLs and how much I miss ride or die otps. All we get now are deeply unbalanced otps with a ride or die ML and a FL who never reciprocates a fraction of that affection.

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Started watching Wedding Impossible because of beanies, but then I went onto tumblr to see what others had to say about it and let’s just say it wasn’t as wholesome/pleasant.

“The writer is homophobic and hates gay people. Why in the world would you villainize Do-han?”
“Our leads are dumb and selfish and deserve to die.”
“I will defend Do-han with everything.”
“Do-han needs to run and get away from his shitty family and trash bestfriend.”
“Ji-han is a self entitled brat and Ah-jeong is ridiculous for sneaking around with Ji-han instead of doing a better job at “acting.””
“I’m hate watching at this point because this show is so dumb and frustrating.”

You get the gist.

I guess this is just another reminder as to why I avoid watching dramas. Am I a bad person for thinking that Do-han was selfish to use Ah-jeong as a shield for his sexuality? Am I a bad person for wanting the fake marriage to go up in flames so the OTP can be happy? Are my morals messed up because I sympathize more with the main leads rather than the closeted second male lead?

The fear of saying things out of line or having to tread carefully around the topic of homosexuality/lgbtq+ representation because you don’t want to be the person who comments the wrong thing or is misunderstood and advocating for the wrong side.

Watching dramas have gotten to this point.

Regardless, since I’ve already watched all 8 eps so far, I do plan to finish the show. Because moments like the ending of ep 2 or the ending of ep 6 are reasons as to why dramas will always have a special place in my heart.

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    Just enjoy the show, if you like it 😊
    I’m having a great time with this show and commenting it with other beanies.

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    Tumblr & Facebook have a tendency to take everything to extremes. Check it out on here, the leads are getting a well deserved love from us.

    Tbh, Do Han is like an employer who offers job to Ah Jeong, she signs up for it and only now is understanding what she has to give up for it. It is just an unfortunate situation for everyone involved.

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    I don’t think the takeaway here is that you shouldn’t watch dramas, but that maybe you should avoid tumblr, etc. if not entirely, then at least until you’re done watching and evaluating a show yourself. I can also understand the fear of saying the wrong thing or misrepresenting your own views on a sensitive topic that affects real people, but again, the solution there isn’t to not watch the dramas, but to be careful with how and where you talk about them.

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    wokism is a disease today

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    Those comments harbour a lot of heterophobic feelings and should not be taken into consideration. Unfortunatelly, because of the liberal world we are living now, they have managed through their aggresiveness to shut up people, to change the way the majority lives and values. It feels more like we are living in an apartheid society where the minorities rule, and not in a democracy where the majority rules. Someone else’s lifestyle and values should not trump yours. You should not be afraid to speak up for your values and beliefs and you should not be afraid to embrace them. I have done it here and I have been acused of so many vile things right here on this site. Seems like there is no tolerance whatsoever from the other part if we don’t align to their ideology and lifestyles. So no, I will continue to be proud of what I am and what I believe in and let my voice heard even they accuse me of terrible things. Because they do it to cancel me out.

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So, I rarely ever watch Cdramas, but I just wanted to give a shoutout to Hi Venus because this show has totally caught my heart. I’ve barely watched any dramas this year, but I’m so glad I discovered and am going to end the year watching this little gem!
There’s almost no plot whatsoever. If anything, this drama is simply just two people spending time together getting to know each other while eating and chatting. But that’s what I love about it. Seeing a pair of main leads go from strangers to friends and now to lovers has never felt so natural.
Their conversations are everything, from casually bantering with each other to being flirty and even vulnerable. They know when to have fun and joke around while also knowing when to be honest and upfront with each other when things get serious. Their conversations flow with ease and never seem one sided.
I didn’t know a drama could have a 10min+ confession scene without it seeming like a drag or a waste of time, but Hi Venus manages to do just that without losing any heart, sincerity and even humour. Episode 16 had one of the most, if not sweetest, genuine and respectful confession scenes I’ve ever seen in dramaland. I’m awful at writing, but for those who’ve watched it, they’ll understand what I mean. The entire conversation between the main couple was brimming with sincerity and full of mutual respect. I might even go as far to say that it was a healthy representation of how confessions should go in dramaland. There was nothing overbearing or burdensome about it. Both characters got to reaffirm their feelings, share their concerns and worries and reassure each other of any doubts. It was a joy to watch~
But anyways, if you’re looking for something super light and breezy to watch with little to no angst, Hi Venus is that drama. The leads have great chemistry and bounce off of each other very well. The second leads are funny, and even the parents in this show are wholesome. The female lead’s behavior may turn you off in the first couple of episodes, but I promise she gets better!

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    Thank you for flagging the first two episodes as I had dropped it because of this very same behaviour but have read a couple of encouraging posts now so I am willing to give it another chance. I am currently watching The rational life and loving it, again toxic workplace and mum in initial episodes can be off putting but the female leads ability to cope and keep her dignity got me through it and after a few episodes those annoying tropes were removed.

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    I’m loving Hi Venus. Was thinking of writing a post similar to yours after it finishes so thay more people can bask in the joy this show gives us.
    It is also genuinely funny, a true rom com indeed. And yes the confession, it was do thoughtful. I really like both leads but Lu zhaoxi is really something else.

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    I am watching this currently (up to Ep10) and liking it so far. The ML is such a green flag. Yes he is petty (who wouldn’t in his shoes right?) but not mean at all. Definitely not the typical cold overbearing CEO in dramaland. Coming from watching Lighter and Princess which I also like lots but OMG, the ML brought so much conflicting emotions in me, my brain short-circuited. What a refreshing change.

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After being in a drama slump post Run On, I picked up Youth of May and didn’t expect to fall in love with it so hard. There are still two episodes left until it’s over, but episode 10 hit me like a ton of bricks. I haven’t seen a lot of discussion surrounding this show and it kind of bums me out, so I figured I’d ramble about why I love it so much.

I know everyone is obsessed with Lee Do Hyun, and I completely agree that he’s doing an amazing job, but Go Min Si has also been nothing short of fantastic. The girl can tear up within seconds, cry within minutes and look like she’s gone through hell and back like no one else. I am so glad she got the chance to showcase the range of her acting skills here because I absolutely love everything that she’s done with her character. I didn’t expect much since I’ve only seen her small role in The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, but wow did she blow me away. Here’s to hoping this role gains her some much deserved recognition!

This is my first drama with Lee Do Hyun, and I totally understand why everyone loves him. The boy is talented, and thank god he starred in a romance drama where his counterpart is the same age as him (cough cough, totally not @ him getting paired up with actresses almost 2x older than him). I could go on and on about how great the OTP is, but maybe that’s for another post…? We’ll see.

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    Anyways, since I’m talking about episode 10, I wanted to touch on MH and MS’s sibling relationship. Their relationship is so precious, and it reminds me a lot of my own relationship with my younger brother. How they banter with each other and even give advice to one another feels very authentic to that of a real life sibling relationship. Along with the unconditional love and just genuine care they have for each other’s wellbeing, it’s hard not to love these two. Everything that MH felt in episode 10 upon finding out about MS was so real and relatable. From the initial shock to the intense worrying and then heavy sigh of relief. I felt all of those emotions to my core. The way the whole situation played out made me bawl my eyes out. I occasionally teared up throughout the show’s run, but this was the episode that officially broke me. The episode that filled me with pure anxiety and desperation because I could see myself in MH’s shoes. The absolute dread of it all to lose a family member who I so deeply care about and cherish. How dire it is for anyone to experience such a thing. It was brutal and resonated with me on a whole nother level.

    I’m glad that YOM had the guts to tackle such a dark part of Korean history without being disrespectful and distorting the events that transpired. Instead, the show has treated its topic with care and sensitivity, helping to shed light on the tragedy that occurred. It’s also confronting people with the harshness of the reality that we’re still dealing with to this day in other places around the world. We get multiple different perspectives of how people are handling the uprising with HT and MH in the hospital, SR and the student protestors, SC and innocent civilians, KS and the military, and finally HT’s dad and all those in high command. The drama could easily focus on just our four leads, but instead, we get to experience the conflict through everyone’s eyes. Even the parents and kids weren’t left out or forgotten about. The Gwangju Uprising was always looming in the background, but now that it’s at the forefront of the show, it’s heartbreakingly brutal and very much real.

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    This post turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be, but I just wanted to appreciate this show for everything it has done so far. It’s been a while since a drama has gotten me this invested, and I’m praying that the last two episodes hold up so I can add it to my list of all time faves. Anyways, watch YOM everyone. It angsty, tragic, depressing and almost pure pain, but it’s got solid writing and directing along with some very strong performances from our leads!

    Also yes, I know Lee Do Hyun and Go Min Si played siblings in their previous drama together, but I didn’t watch it so I don’t feel the same awkwardness that others do. Either way, just from watching this, I would have never guessed because their chemistry is spot on and feels super natural!

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    it’s seriously so good and feed my long melodrama romance drought

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    Yep, sad to see not much discussion around it. Not many viewers either bc of the genre I guess. I only picked it up yesterday so I’m not caught up yet, but it’s a great watch. I’m watching it for LDH but yes GMS is so good! I see the little details and expressions both convey and the chemistry – its so nice to see a young otp of rising actors hitting it out of the park. I guess this will be another underrated series.

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Hello all, I’ve been in a huge drama slump post FoS2 and just barely finally finished DYLB? last night. Any recommendations on what to watch next?

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    Kairos! Ahahaha. Not really related….but Kairos PD shared in an interview that he loves FoS 🤣.

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    Do Do Sol if you want some fluff and a pill of happiness in life.

    Start-up if you want to learn something about tech companies and are in for a real serious SLS.

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      Do Do Sol has indeed proven to be the right amount of fluffy silly sweetness to help me out of my post-FoS2 blues!

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    After the two heavy stuff, Into the Ring?

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      Yes!
      And if you like police dramas, The good Detective. Really good.
      If you want to have fun, Zombie detective.

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Beanies, we are halfway through Do You Like Brahms, and there has yet to be a single wrist grab between our OTP!! Praying the show keeps it this way (Please writernim and pdnim 🙏)
Then again, we can’t underestimate one of the biggest clichΓ©s of all time, so what episode do you guys think will change this?

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After a pretty disorienting weekend, I’m relieved to know there’s a new episode of Do You Like Brahms tomorrow. Our leads make me smile ear to ear, and I am so soft for them β™‘ All those cute pics/gifs I saw beanies posting on their fan wall made me give in!

Haven’t watched episode 10 of FoS2 yet, but my brother and I are starting to feel quite impatient. I feel bad for saying that I also feel a bit detached as well regarding how this season has been playing out… We still love Shi-mok and Yeo-jin though, and we’re both invested in knowing what Dong-jae got himself into. Everyone is sus, but I’m hoping it’s not the wife. Unless she’s hiding some mindblowing secret, I feel like it wouldn’t make sense since she’s been such a minor character and we don’t know much about her. It definitely feels like Dong-jae had an intimate relationship with his hoobae though and if his wife knew it about it, part of her behavior would make sense.

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I know I’m like beyond late, but I figured I’d still do this… Here’s my top 10 Kdrama list! It was hard to come up with this, so I’ll be giving out lots of shout outs at the end~
10% – Healer
10% – You From Another Star
10% – Misaeng
10% – My Ajusshi
10% – Mother
10% – Secret Forest
10% – Signal
10% – Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim
10% – I’m Not A Robot
10% – The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
The last three choices are honestly interchangeable with any other of these other dramas that own my heart just as much: Live Up To Your Name, It’s Okay To Not Be Okay, Extraordinary You, I Remember You, It’s Okay That’s Love, Liar Game, Queen For Seven Days, Queen In-hyun’s Man, Search Query: WWW, Tale Of Nokdu
If specials/short series are allowed, these would immediately be my last three choices: Individualist Ms. Ji Young, If We Were A Season, Splish Splash Love.
In short, I love a lot of Kdramas and there really isn’t a top ten list I can 100% be sure with. Whoops, guess I cheated… //sorrynotsorry ;;

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    70%! And 3 honorable mentions

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    60% from your main list and 2 from your honorable mentions! I didn’t include IOTNBO because I haven’t finished it yet haha and I liked Liar Game but I only liked aspects of it, I’m not sure if I’d consider it a favorite though.

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    30% from your main and 4 from your honorable. That is 30 because I haven’t seen many shows that you’ve mentioned but given your list I have a feeling I’ll like them equally.

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    50% and 3 honorable mentions!

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Logging into DB for the first time in my life after lurking for five years because I’ve been compelled to write a wayyyy too long post about the current drama I’m watching, so spoilers/theories below regarding It’s Okay to Not be Okay! Obviously read at your own discretion~

So… since I refuse to believe with my entire being that Head Nurse is MY’s mother with everything that the show has given us, I came up with my own theory. It’s probably wrong, and this show is most likely making a clown out of me, but this is how I’m going to interpret the mother plot. I just cannot believe how any logical person would write about a woman surviving a fall, losing litres of blood, along with being stuffed into a bag, thrown into the bottom of a lake and think her audience would let that slide. No reasonable person would read that and think that it makes sense. I’ll try to format this to the best that I can, maybe add onto comments when I rewatch and feel like adding new thoughts.

This is obviously all just a theory, I could be absolutely wrong and just way too invested into wanting more than some generic plot twist. I hate this ‘plot twist’ because it undermines everything amazing the writer has done. She’s flipped so many cliches that I refuse to believe she would pull a 180Β° and make the most obvious choice.

Anyways, apologies for any mistakes regarding grammar and stuff! I’m not the best at writing down my thoughts, but this show has made me think a lot way too much and this is the result.

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    My theory is there were two mothers in MY’s life. The first one being her real biological mother and the second being HN, her aunt and mother’s sister/twin. If MY’s mom spent most of her time focused on her writing, HN might have cared for MY instead.

    We’ve been presented with three family pictures. The first one being MY’s personal one in ep. 11, the second one being the one KT saw in ep. 12, and the third one being in this episode, the one HN burns.
    MY and HN have the same family photo. The woman in their photo isn’t wearing the butterfly brooch whereas the woman in the photo KT saw is wearing it. These two pictures also have different background settings, yet MY and her dad are wearing the same clothes in both of them. It would make no sense for MY’s mom to take off the butterfly brooch in between shoots, nor would it make sense if she changed clothes because neither MY nor her dad did. There’s also the detail with the butterfly brooch being worn on different sides.
    In short, HN is a mentally ill psycho who got jealous of her sister for whatever reason (her fame as a writer, her getting married and having a kid, Dad being in love with her sister instead of her), developed DID and pretty much became her. MY’s real mom is dead, killed by her father who developed a brain tumour at the time and either confused his wife for her sister/twin or got manipulated into believing she was evil. MY’s versions of events are correct as in she did see her mother in the basement, but also partially wrong in the sense that she couldn’t differentiate who her real mom was because of her trauma from the abuse. This show has also shown us that memory isn’t always correct ei: how KT thought of his mom and ST’s versions of events at the frozen river.

    Following the writer’s usage of incorporating fairy tales, ep. 13th’s title ‘the father of the two sisters” would also come into play. There’s also the wicked witches of the east and west theme since MY’s mom wrote a crime mystery book titled ‘the murder of the witch in the west.’

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    Another big speculation I have is when MY is driving back home for the first time in ep. 3, there is what looks like a pickup/moving truck going the opposite direction and right as she sees it, a vision of her mom appears. Either the person in the truck is HN and she realized she needed to pack her things since MY came back, or it’s all just one fat coincidence that the show decided to show a jump scare of her mom there. There’s no reason why anyone would take that route either considering that it’s deserted and only leads to MY’s family home. The first nightmare of her mom also happens when she gets back, and part of it shows young MY seeing a woman who tells her to save her from a lake. If we take dad’s versions of events at face value, and he and MY did have a conversation about him going fishing, young MY could have connected her mom disappearing from the basement to being thrown into the lake by dad. The nightmare is a manifestation of her guilt of having known at the time and not being able to understand or compartmentalize it.

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    MY herself said in this episode what we as viewers also think, ‘I know that almost two decades have passed, but even if she had plastic surgery all over her face, I would’ve recognized her.’ The show has alluded to plastic surgery multiple times with patients KEJ and POR. In this case, if HN did get plastic surgery, it would make sense with her being from a prestigous family of doctors.

    The writer has even made sure to tie past conversations together ei. ep. 3’s hypocrite dialogue to ep. 10. There’s also a bunch of other bread crumbs the show has dropped, the biggest one being ST and HN’s conversation regarding stepmothers caring for someone other than their own blood. It might of affected HN because she took care of MY even though she wasn’t her actual daughter. and hence HN is the ‘fake mom.’

    MY’s mom also seems calculated. All the scenes we see of them together are of them only and without Dad, so she probably tried to hide the abuse from him. Along with the fact that mom forbid her from making any other social connections. MY said she’d always listen to her mom because of how much she scared her which means she most likely kept everything to herself.

    Even when MY’s mom killed KT’s mom, the only person around was ST who she would have probably known has ASP due to her family background or maybe even from KT’s own mom from when they hired her and got to know her. If HN did spend time impersonating her sister, she would have gotten used to assuming new identities and keeping up a facade.

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      Thanks a lot for taking your time and writing all this down. We might just see your theories shown in ep15. Because otherwise, GT wouldn’t have simply said ‘lets all think of this as a nightmare and put this behind us.’ in the preview. Let’s see what happens 😃

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        Thanks for taking the time to read it and comment! I’m praying that they give us some reasonable answers. If not, this show has made me their official clown mascot 🤡

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          You and I both my friend. You and I both. The amount of love, dedication, and support I have given this drama in YT, here and other sites, I might as well get laughed at in dramaland if they kick logic through the door MY style at the 11th hour.

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      I really want this to be true! I completely agree that the nurse being MY’s mom wouldn’t make any sense, even if her father’s memories had been slightly distorted due to his brain tumour.

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        And the missing butterfly on the picture really needs to be relevant or someone seriously messed up in the props department!

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          This drama has been super meticulous (MY’s house being built on set, the outfit coordinator giving an interview about how she planned out our leads wardrobe to show their growth), which is why I find it to be so uncharacteristic that they’d make such a huge blunder by simply forgetting the butterfly brooch.

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            OK this gives me some hope that there’s still a (good) plot twist to come!

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    First of all, congrats on becoming a registered beanie!!! Welcome to delurkerdom!

    Second of all, that is one impressive, detailed theory! I did not notice the absence of the butterfly brooch in those photos. That is an interesting detail.

    I’m not sure what I think about the mom situation at this point. Ep 14 had me mostly convinced that nurse Park is MY’s mom, but like you, I don’t know how they would explain her surviving being thrown in the lake. Your take would definitely make things interesting, but would require quite a bit of explaining as well. In your theory who actually killed KT & ST’s mom? HN or real mom?

    We’ll just have to wait and see what the finale week throws at us!

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      Thank you so much!!
      It’s hard because not all theories will be bulletproof and there’s going to be tiny plot holes no matter what. Regardless, the show is definitely playing with our heads because there are some psychological aspects incorporated and it’s hard to differentiate those from reality.
      I think HN killed their mom, it would go in line with how clean the stab wound to her neck was.

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        Yeah, I don’t think I’ve met a plot hole-proof drama yet. The psychological aspect definitely makes it confusing. What is real and what is imagined/distorted memory/incorrectly perceived/a nightmare?

        I like your theory of HN being the one who murdered, but what doesn’t quite line up for me is that in the flash back we were given, MY’s dad supposedly pushed his wife over the railing after she alluded to murdering the brothers’ mom and laughing evilly. So I’m not sure how they would explain him mistaking identities.

        Other questions: Was MY’s real mom aware that her sister was terrorizing her daughter? Was real mom a decent person, or was she just as terrible as her sister (which, if sister completely took on mom’s identity then I guess so). Why would they take a photo of MY and dad with real mom then another one with aunt?

        Ok, I’m going to stop before I hurt my head 😆.

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          Man.. I really hope this theory comes true. Although it’d be a creepy dynamic since Nurse Park would have to have been in close contact with MY’s family to have developed/shared this unhealthy obsession with DJ. But I am willing to accept that than the looming alternative of Nurse Park being MY’s mom.

          About MY’s mom final moments…She never really said anything about murdering the brother’s mom,just that she won’t be coming in anymore. She very well could’ve just fired her if she perceive her of overstepping bounds with lonely young MY. The sister then would’ve taken things up a notch and decided to straight up murder the person who dared to interfere in their combined masterpiece..construction of MY…Orr the housekeeper may not even hav been the Moon’s mother..Just another unfortunate confidence that tipped over an emotionally wrought DH who was dealing with his mortality+drunk+worried about leaving his young daughter solely in the hands of a decidedly unsuitable parent.
          Orr crazy idea, was nurse Park the house keeper that DJ had fired and had hired Moon brother’s mom as the replacement? Nurse Park went berserk and literally slit away the competition????

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            That’s a fair point. She never explicitly admitted to anything.
            Has the drama alluded to the brothers’ mom being the housekeeper, or is this just a conclusion we jumped to ourselves? I don’t quite remember.

            That’s not a bad theory. If nurse Park isn’t DJ’s sister, her being the housekeeper would give her the proximity needed to pull off such a stunt.

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          I went back and rewatched dad’s sequence of events, and at the very beginning we get a voice over explaining his medical condition. I’m guessing this was his first time finding out about his brain tumor since he’s drinking to try and numb the pain he’s getting from his headache. The camera cuts to the laptop desk and we see three prism lights as if the director is trying to hint to us this is where everything becomes disoriented. (I could be completely wrong about this and just overthinking…) By the time dad barges into mom’s room, he seems drunk. With alcohol paired with his brain tumor, I doubt he’s in the right state of mind. He could have seen mom as a monster because that’s how his mind portrayed her, and thus mistaken her for someone she wasn’t.

          As for the family photo, I don’t know if this has happened to other people, but I personally do have family photos of where not every single one of my family members was involved. For whatever reason, they might have not taken one together because it was an impromptu/taken in the spur of the moment, or maybe because having two woman who look exactly the same in one photo can be confusing? I have no clue, haha.

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    Welcome!

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    I really like your theory. So much better than the show going down the path it seems to be going in right now!

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