3GGG

Except that she didn't get to fall in love with the real Do-San. She fell in love with the Do-San of the letters. That's a key component. Not saying they can't fall in love now that everything is out in the open. Just that the relationship they had was a dishonest one. And now Do San, who benefitted the most from the lie, must also face the biggest consequences. HJP, on the other hand, didn't benefit from the lie. Neither did Dal Mi, since all she believed was fake and she will now feel hurt.

I haven't seen this one, so i wouldn't know. Last week i compared this series to both Mama Fairy & the Woodcutter and to She was Pretty, because the love triangle is handled very similarly.

Right now, by extending the lie for so long (half the drama, basically), it ensures that SDM gets to establish a fresh relationship with HJP. While that same lies keeps NDS from establishing a relationship with SDM. Since he is simply pretending to be someone he is not, deceiving not only SDM but himself as well.

I agree that grandma really hurt HJP. My view is that grandma doesn't really know a whole lot about HJP's life outside of the fact that he grew well. While she has had a lifetime of memories with Dal Mi. So i think she underestimated how much Dal Mi and she means to HJP.

Though i hurt for HJP, i can see why she put Dal Mi first. But i think she also knew she hurt HJP, since she talks about karma towards the end.

We will see next episode what it meant when she called HJP by name rather than "Good boy". Either she's embracing him further or she may very well be pushing him away.

One thing is for sure, next episode everyone will have to mend the relationship they have with each other. It will be like trying out a clean slate, except with Dal Mi's feelings on the line. I think she has it the worst of them all :/.

I'm going to play Grandma's advocate here, because while I won't argue she didn't hurt him, it was clear that she was hurt as well. Keep in mind that Grandma has to think about Dal Mi as well. Dal Mi just confessed to her that she loves Do San. Not only that, but that she's scared to find out he's not her first love.

Now, one thing I want to make clear is that I don't agree with Grandma because lying is never an option. But I see where she's coming from. Ji Pyung doesn't know that Grandma is losing her sight. So at this point, Grandma wants Dal Mi to have someone to rely on.

Once Ji Pyung confesses his feelings towards Dal-Mi, he puts grandma in a difficult position. Which is why she says "why didn't you tell me sooner!" Because now she's only thinking that the truth would hurt Dal Mi. In a way, she's making decisions based on who would be hurt less. If Ji Pyung confesses, everyone will get hurt. If Ji Pyung stays silent, only he gets hurt. It's not a pretty choice, but it is the most rational from Grandma's perspective.

The fact that she runs to cover him with the umbrella, however, proves she still cares about him quite a lot. But the fact that she gives him the umbrella and leaves, can also be interpreted by Ji Pyung as having been abandoned. I'm really curious about what their relationship will be like after this. They have always been a bit rough with each other, but they ultimately love each other very much so I think they'll come out of this one with a stronger bond.

As to the preview, I actually didn't watch it! I try not to watch them when the new episode comes out the next day, as that the previews are always edited in a way to "confuse" the viewer or to paint a very different picture than what would happen -- so they aren't really reliable.

PS: Apologies for the super long answer. I swear it was supposed to be one paragraph lol.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Here i thought people wouldn't read it because i ended up typing more than i thought i would. :)

I haven't read many of the comments here, but it seems many may not have liked today's episode, so that mean I'm in the minority! I actually loved today's episode, as we get to see all the consequences of the lies told unfold.

First off, let me make a case for something that I'm really enjoying here and that's mirroring. K-dramas seem to really like mirroring situations and characters and some writers do so flawlessly. So what do I mean by this?

Nam Do San & Han Ji Pyung are more similar than you'd imagine. While Nam Do San has family and close friends, he tends to disregard his own feelings and makes decision based on others. Mainly, on trying not to disappoint his peers. However, in so doing, he ends up frustrated with himself because he's not being honest. So everything he's doing also feels fake to him and he ends up hurting himself most of all.

Meanwhile, Han Ji Pyung seems to be the opposite at first. He has no family and no friends. He doesn't want to think of others, let alone struggle with trying not to dissappoint them. However, he's just as lonely and as dishonest with his feelings as Nam Do San. The difference is that he prefers not to bother with others so as not to give them an opportunity to hurt him. So in trying not to get hurt, he pushes people away and, in turn, he ends up hurting himself most of all.

I'm writing this so, disregarding who you prefer in the love triangle, you see how similar these two characters are... and how incredibly flawed and complexed they have been written. I see love from the writer towards these two. Perhaps my only complaint is that the love didn't extend to the sisters, who seem much more simple in comparison.

That out of the way, let's deconstruct the episode a little bit because so many key things happened here!

>> Grandma <<
So I saw some comments throwing shade at Grandma. You have to understand that she never intended to hurt HJP. She loves him perhaps as much as she loves Dal Mi. The thing is... Grandma has been told by Dal Mi she loves Do San in a scene before this happened.

So when she told HJP not to say anything, she was only thinking of Dal Mi (espeically since she was still under the impression that HJP didn't harbor any feelings towards Dal Mi). But for HJP, who has so many abandomnet issues, his reaction was akin to being kicked to the curved. Which is why he tells her that he regrets letting her in. Because by letting grandma into his heart, he ended up being hurt by her.

At no point are we told that Grandma isn't on his side. She just realized his feelings, but she's also aware that Do-San and Dal-Mi are happy together. What she failed to see is that the lie would sooner or later rear it's ugly head.

>> Do-San <<
I thinks his character had the most growth during this episode. I really, really liked all his scenes because they were all carefully written to provide a lesson: Lies hurt. And sometimes, that hurt extends to the one lying.

This scene shows us that Do-San has never been able to feel pride regarding his accomplishments because he feels he hasn't earned them. We got to see how by taking a look at another's test, he ended up getting a "handicap". In so doing, he entered into an internal debate with him feeling that he hadn't really achieved anything.

That situation then mirrors what's happening with Dal-Mi. Because of how Do-San's character is written, it made sense now why he couldn't come clean about the lie earlier. I was still hoping he would be the one to tell Dal-Mi the truth, as that would be the only way the writer could maybe salvage the romantic relationship between them.

BUT he lost his chance. And his mom's words proved to be almost the death sentence "what hurt wasn't that you lied, but that you didn't tell me first".

>> Ji-Pyung <<
This episode, Ji Pyung had very little air time, but what little we saw of him yielded a lot of important information. When Do-San is telling him he has everything while Do-San only has one thing... it was ironic. Do-San has friends and a loving family, after all. And while I was expecting Ji Pyung to say "you have a family" and leave Do-San to interpret that, the fact that he didn't actually lend weight to my theory that he's really the ML.

Ji Pyung is shown to be sacrifical. So of course he would accept Grandma's wish and basically decide to step aside to that everyone else could be happy (even if it means he would be unhappy in the process). But by making him go find the letter we saw in the first episode (I knew that would happen) it reinforces that he's the end game. Because now that he's found the letter, that relationship he started with Dal-Mi can be mended.

And that is also why the writer opted to have Dal-Mi find Ji-Pyung and make the connection herself, rather than have Do-San come clean. The moment Dal-Mi found out the truth by chance, Do-San lost his chance. And, by that same coin, the fact that Dal-Mi found out without having to be told by Ji Pyung, allows him to continue being the "sacrificial" one. Because if he'd gone to her and told her everything, he would come off as being spiteful towards Do-San. With how the situation was written, however, the writer circumvents the issue in the best way possible, with Ji Pyung capable of still savaging the situation.

We'll see how tomorrow's episode pans out. I have to say that, though I wished the sandbox part was explored more, I don't hate where the story is going or what the plot is focusing on.

My theory is that Do-San will end up leaving with Alex to Silicon Valley, as that's the place where he would have the most growth in regards to his skills, confidence and knowledge. And it would also explain what Alex's prupose is to beging with.

But we shall see. I'm still hoping the writer will focus a bit more on the sisters and have them mend their bond, but I'm not holding my breath for that one.

Indeed, i can't help feeling frustrated just knowing that so many things are being lost in translation. This is the first time i feel like i am really missing out on important context and meaning!

Indeed, you could also use the box colors to further reinforce something. So, for example, an informative article could have the box/table be blue since, in color psychology, that's the color that best represents "information". You can use orange or yellow for amusing (since yellow = happiness, orange = playful). A "reflective" article could be purple (mysticism/wisdom), etc.

Thank you :)!

Don't sweat it, at any rate I always add a link to all the "series" in each article, so people should still find it if they decided to read those :).

Just thought I would point it out here for those who read the comments ;)

Great article compiling some great reads (some of which I had totally missed as many posters have said)! Thank you for featuring my Visual Cues in K-Drama series, though in actuality there are four parts (articles), not three. The last part is an overview and it's the only one requiring that you read the previous part to really understand since it goes over examples of when several cues are weaved together within a scene to establish subtext.

Also, a suggestion coming from someone who is heavy into the visual part of things, you may want to make the graphics (in this case, the original covers of the articles) bigger just so they can visually give us a break from the wall of text. I also think the tags "Reflective," "Informative", etc. are very interesting pieces of information and would probably benefit from being given more hierarchy (perhaps a bigger size, better placement, or even just by making it pop with a different color font).

Of course, these are all personal suggestions so you can always disregard ;).

Given the new sample I used for the more recent tag analysis, I believe the low numbers are in big part due to that. Meaning, I sampled way too many dramas which had few to no tags, so all numbers seem too low.

If I were to use the current sample, my guess is that the childhood connection trope/tag would skyrocket in comparison.

Agreed. So far, the drama has been strong for me but second half are usually where a drama breaks down. Hopefully, this will be one of those few that remain consistently good. I also hope we get to see the sisters' reforge their bond. So far, that has been an aspect left unexplored.

Thank you, i am glad you I agree. Because certainly the lie needs to be a plot device for it to make sense. Otherwise, it becomes useless. :)

She's the ultimate end game! Everyone must indeed protect and care for grandma above all else!

Indeed. I'd be surprised if my theory doesn't pan out, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'd be displeased. Just that everything points towards this being the reason why the writer decided to stretch the lie. At the end of the day, I still find the drama entertaining despite the convoluted love triangle/romance aspect. ;)

Whatever happens it'll be interesting either way, tbh. I think once the secret is out, everyone will be able to make a valid decision on an even playfield (with everyone privy to the entire truth).

Of course, I'm also looking forward to HJP finding out Grandma is having troubles, since their relationship is a highlight of the show for me.

ESPECIALLY, not Grandma! She's a saint. (I'm team grandma XD)

That's an interesting point. Not regretting her decisions (or standing by them) has been a big part character trait. I think she may come to realize that she, indeed, does not regret her decisions in that:

1. She loved HJP (the guy who sent her the letters and became her first love) and she may decide to stick with that decision.
2. She chose Do-San as a working partner and she doesn't regret that decision and will stay with him as a working partner.

Or she may simply choose neither of them romantically, which will also a cool thing. At this point, there's only ONE thing that would disappoint me... and that's if the writer decides NOT to mend the sisters' relationship. I've been waiting for some real heart-to-heart to happen between them and so far they'd been ignored and their relationship is "stuck".

I loved that, in a way, the sister played a part in Dal Mi outsmarting her sister's step father. And I think that In Jae will not start to take Dal Mi seriously, since she mangaged to outplay a person In Jae now views as an enemy. So I really want them to team up.

Yes, hang in there. I'll be extremely surprised if the story doesn't pan out sort of like I've established in my theory. Based on just formulas, visual cues and what the director seems to be hinting at, this makes the most sense!

No matter what happens, I'm actually excited to see how things will evolve. I'm also looking forward to the sisters letting go of their issues and becoming a family once again. :)