MagnoliaCream

Per LG's calculations, the duration of time freeze in seconds is the square of the prime number corresponding to the occurrence of the time freeze. To put it differently, the prime number corresponding to the occurrence of the time freeze is the square root of the duration of time freeze in seconds. His calculations showed that the duration of the 62nd time freeze is one day as shown below.

The first 62 prime numbers are: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109, 113, 127, 131, 137, 139, 149, 151, 157, 163, 167, 173, 179, 181, 191, 193, 197, 199, 211, 223, 227, 229, 233, 239, 241, 251, 257, 263, 269, 271, 277, 281, 283, 293

The 62nd prime number is 293. Its square = 85,849, roughly one day (24 hours in a day x 60 minutes in an hour x 60 seconds in a minute = 86,400 seconds).

It will be noted that 121 seconds, the duration of the time freeze LG experienced, is the square of 11, the 5th prime number. It means that the time freeze in the park was 49 seconds, the square of 7, the 4th prime number. The time freeze that happened when LG went to Korea the first time, which Lee Lim experienced must have been 25 seconds, the square of 5, the third prime number. This means that time froze 2 times before LG went to Korea. This is discussed in item #8 in my second comment with spoilers earlier

1. The granddad went through the obelisk that granted eternal life. Please see ep 15 1:04:05. I imagine him traveling the universe since he passed on to this eternal life, visiting Corea once in a while, the same thing I imagine Lee Gon and Tae-eul doing once they shed off their mortal bodies. One of my theories about the granddad savior was that he searched the universe for a perfect partner for Lee Gon, found Tae-eul and passed her ID to him in ep 1. As shown in ep 16, there were several alternate worlds, not just two. So why did the flute bring Lee Gon to the version of Korea where Tae-eul was? It was precisely because she was there. The granddad savior theory actually breaks the loop that having Lee Gon as his own savior created.

2. The Lakehouse theory was just one of my many theories to make the "big reveal" more exciting. Please see #1 for another. Lee Gon being the savior was too obvious, I thought KES would provide a twist. Also, Lee Gon being the savior created a loop that I hope would be answered in a subsequent season. Even when ep 10 revealed that Lee Gon had discovered time travel and almost confirmed he was the savior, I was still waiting for a twist.

3. The surprise for me was that KES didn't provide a twist. And I think a lot of viewers thought the same - that Lee Gon being the savior was too straightforward, thus concocted more elaborate scenarios. I like one theory raised by another commenter here - that the savior was the son of Lee Gon and Tae-eul. There's a wealth of story in that theory, enough for another season - that LG and TE got married when they went to that church where LG's parents got married in. The commenter didn't elaborate, but I can imagine LG dying in TE's arms in ep 13, TE getting LG's half of the flute, finding out she was pregnant and going into hiding, Corea becoming a dystopian society ruled by Lee Lim and the PM, LG and TE's son (also LMH) hearing the flute when he was growing up and finally figuring out how to time travel. Oh, I also imagine LG and TE's son falling for the feisty and funny daughter of Eun-sup and Nari, lol.

4. I would love to give Primer a 10, if only it is as beautiful and has as gripping a story, as heartwarming a romance and as high quality production, acting and soundtrack as TKEM. I would also really, really love to give A Wrinkle In Time a much higher rating than what I gave it in IMDB, but the direction, acting, music and production quality were much inferior to those of TKEM. In addition, I didn't connect emotionally with any character in AWIT.

can you tell me what definition of prime numbers shows how wrong his math is?

Regarding the savior and the ID, as noted, Lee Gon time traveling to 1994 was already hinted at as early as episode 1. However, there were countless other possibilities for viewers who were looking for more fantastical twists. For example, the savior could have been his granddad who would already be eternal at that point and whose resemblance to him would have been understandable. As for the ID, a contraption like the mailbox in the Sandra Bullock movie The Lakehouse could have been used to transport an ID from 2019 to 1994. That's the beauty of a fantasy movie, you can really make your imagination soar.

funny, all the so-called plot-holes were clear to me. and the math, e.g. square of prime numbers, though incorporated in a fantastical stream (this is a fantasy after all), was actually fun and sound. it's getting tedious explaining things to those who call anything that goes over the head "plot holes" or being overthought. i guess we just have to agree that there were viewers who felt and saw the magic and those who didn't

thanks for the tip, and oops, sorry, I thought you're a she coz of your photo. i'll edit my comment

you rock! you made me interested in W. is this the one with lee jong suk?

Unfortunately, this comment section skews negatively. But a lot of viewers around the world appreciated the drama. According to koreaboo, it is the most watched kdrama on netflix in the world in 2020 so far - https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/top-10-watched-netflix-k-dramas-in-world-year/

It's the best kdrama I've watched. It has an unusual story, definitely not a typical rom-com. The level of enjoyment one gets is proportional to the level of interest the viewer invests in it as well as trust in the writer's vision. Those who tried to figure out the puzzles presented by the writer derived the most enjoyment. From reading the comments here, some viewers who did try to understand the drama but did not enjoy it were disappointed because they wanted the story to go in another direction than where the writer took it.

1. TKEM was unfairly blasted for this because the scar was placed correctly but viewers just didn't see well enough how it happened.
2. This happened towards the end of episode 1, just before Tae-eul saw Lee Gon riding Maximus. Jo Yeong/Eun-sup and Seo-ryeong also saw their doppelgangers at other times before they were aware of such entities.
3. It was quite interesting actually. I enjoyed solving this one. Time-freeze didn't anymore come up in the end because closing the portal stopped any more freezes from happening. But this provided the incentive for why they needed to close the portal as soon as possible.
4. He did play an important part at the end. He let Tae-eul and Jo Young keep their memories. Being the spirit of Manpasikjeok, he probably found peace when he became whole and spent more time in his haven since then or did not anymore find any reason to intervene in mortal matters.
5. It seems most people assumed that because that is how most movies go - treason to overthrow current ruler.
6. Music was a major reason I enjoyed this show. I also loved how Lady Noh recited Kim So Wol's poems.
7. First, I thought it happened to everyone whose doppelganger died. But since I assumed Shin-jae's doppelganger died yet Shin-jae didn't have a scar, the theory was shot. Next theory was that the scar appeared to people who killed their doppelgangers, but Lee Gon didn't, so that theory was also shot. The third theory was that the scar appeared to those whose doppelganger was killed by anybody. This theory held.
8. Yeah, straightforward. I don't know why i included this here. Oh, the puzzle wasn't why Lee Lim stayed young in the gate. It was whether time froze every time the portal opened, including when he crossed the portal to stay in the gate to stay young. According to Lee Gon's calculations, time would have frozen at most three times before the very first time freeze he experienced, the one in the park. But Lee Lim would have used the portal more than three times before - (1) the first time he went to Korea, then (2) he went back to Corea while Lee Gon was mourning after which (3) he brought Shin-Jae to Korea, then (4) he would have crossed the portal again to stay in the gate to stay young. So Lee Lim had crossed the portal at least 4 times, Yet the duration of the second time freeze Lee Gon experienced was 121 seconds. the square of 11, the 5th prime number, meaning the first freeze he experienced in the park was 49 seconds, the square of 7 the 4th prime number. Unknown to Lee Gon, time froze the third time when he crossed the portal the first time, leaving us with two time freezes before he went to Korea. Since Lee Lim surely had crossed the portal at least 4 times, the conclusion we can derive is that time did not always freeze when the portal was crossed. Question is, what other factor determined when time froze while the portal was crossed? This wasn't answered which was immaterial since the portal was closed. The answer would have been important had Lee Gon been unable to close the door and they would have needed to find another way to stop time from freezing.
9. Lee Gon started looking for Tae-eul before she made that call. In fact if they heard the call, they would have had an idea where she was since every phone box would have had an id.
10. At this point (start of episode 10), Lee Gon was experimenting with the different time duration in the interdimensional gate, which was why he sometimes was not sure how long he had been in the gate like when Secretary Mo was worried he would miss the new year's celebration. I think when he met Tae-eul in the forest, he was making such an experiment and his body was still undergoing some kind of change to adjust to the time difference, thus he told her he was not entirely there yet.
11. At this point (end of episode 10), time travel had not yet been brought up. It was this scene that confirmed the use of time travel in the story. Well, episode 1 hinted at this, since the masked savior looked like Lee Gon and of course the existence of Tae-eul's ID in 1994, but episode 10 almost answered the question of who the savior was. It was exciting.
12. I felt this was answered well. The flowers disappeared when Lee Gon's plan to go back to the night of treason to make sure the flute did not get broken was underway. Making the manpasikjeok whole was the main factor in stopping the time freeze. I think that very moment the flowers disappeared was the exact moment Lee Gon decided to prioritize making the flute whole over saving his young self. And Tae-eul figured this out when she saw the flowers disappear, that was why she insisted on accompanying Lee Lim to the gate herself. If Lee Gon failed and died, he would not be able to give her those flowers. If everything went as Lee Gon planned, time would not freeze forever and the scenario where Lee Gon would go back to the past from a future when everybody else, except Lee Lim and him, has frozen over would not happen. That is, he would not go back from such a future to the past to give Tae-eul flowers. Either way, Tae-eul would not have those flowers.

Logically, you're right, if I can accept a 10/10 then I should accept 1/10. However, as noted before, a 10/10 does not mean perfection, just close to perfection, e.g. 96%, which is closer to a 10 than a 9. A movie that would deserve a rating of 1 would be one where every part of the story makes no sense, the actors don't know how to act, the music makes one tear his hair out and the direction results in a movie that goes nowhere. This movie was created by professionals, the writer, actors, musicians and directors. Let's say for some people the story really did not make sense and they didn't understand any scene at all, but were all the actors really terrible? Were all the musical tracks really terrible?

lol, they are so funny!

Yup, news to me too. Here are some things about TKEM that made me go huh? (some of these are obvious now, but they were puzzling, at some point, and made me re-watch episodes):
1. Shouldn't the scar on Lee Gon's neck be at the left? Answer: It's correct that it is at the right side. Lee Lim strangled LG with his right hand and stabbed him with the other half of the flute in his left hand.
2. Why did Tae-eul see Luna in her car in episode 1? Theory: when the portal is crossed, the parallel worlds somehow overlap and doppelgangers see each other.
3. How did Lee Gon come up with the conclusion that time will freeze for an hour the 62nd time and that the world will eventually freeze forever after some time? Answer: the duration of time freeze in seconds = square of the prime number corresponding to the number of occurrence of time freeze. The 62nd prime number = 293. The square of 293 = 85,849, roughly equivalent to 24 hours . While the number of occurrences of time freeze increases, so will the time-freeze duration. If the portal between worlds keeps on getting crossed causing time to freeze each time, there will come a point when time will freeze (practically) forever.
4. What is the purpose of the yoyo boy? Theory: he was the spirit of the manpasikjeok
5. Why was Lee Lim interested in the flute? Answer: he wanted to be eternal/immortal
6. Why was Lee Gon interested in Kim So Wol? Answer: Lady Noh used to read one of the poet's poems to Lee Gon (Invocation of the Dead). I think Lee Gon knew then that Lady Noh was from Korea or at least knew somebody from Korea.
7. Who gets the lightening scar? Theory: Those whose doppelgangers died by unnatural means
8. How did Lee Lim stay young? Answer: Time in interdimensional gate is 60 times slower than outside
9. In episode 11/12, how did Lee Gon know Tae-eul was in Corea? Answer: At the raid at the bookstore, when Lee Gon found out the owner was a doppelganger, he knew that the doppelgangers were stealing the lives of their counterparts. Luna's photo was in the same envelope as the bookstore owner's. He therefore knew that Tae-eul was in danger. He therefore immediately looked for either her or Luna and was relieved, when the girl they were monitoring tied her hair, that it was Tae-eul.
10. What was the version of Lee Gon Tae-eul met in the bamboo forest? Theory: Lee Gon who came from the interdimensional gate and was still adjusting to the time difference between the gate and the world.
11. Why did Tae-eul stop herself from hugging Lee Gon in ceremonial coat with flowers? Theory: She knew he was Lee Gon from a different time. What she didn't know was that he was from the future when time has frozen forever. He was one of only two people living then (the other being Lee Lim) that was why he was lonely and he was probably travelling to the past to be with her.
12. Why did the flowers LG gave TE disappear? Answer: Events were happening that would cause Tae-eul not to have those flowers, e.g. the doors between the worlds would close and stop the world from freezing forever.

I'll stop here for now and get some zzz's. The most puzzling of all, KES' version of time travel is coming up.

I just read your review. You sure know how to speak your mind. You made some very good points. I, too, wondered about the magic that made the doppelgangers exist with the same DNA in the parallel worlds, meaning their ancestors would have been the same too. It could have been the work of the Manpasikjeok or just the fact that this is a fantasy drama. I guess viewers who enjoyed the show put their trust in the writer's imagination fully, the same way they trusted that Cinderella's godmother would be able to create a beautiful gown and glass slippers with a wave of her magic wand, or that Mary Poppins, Bert and the Banks children would have a lovely time in a painting or that Lily Potter's love saved Harry, etc.

I found the drama riveting from the get go. Even episodes 2 and 3 that many viewers are not too keen about I found highly entertaining and important to the development of the love story between the leads. I found KES' version of time-travel brilliant, since it departs from traditional depictions of it. I hope someday you'll find the time you spent on TKEM not wasted.

I can speak about 10/10 because I have given some movies that rating. No movie is perfect, but if you find flaws in a movie, say, 4% of the time, that leaves 96% , closer to 10/10 than 9/10. The other end of the spectrum, 1/10, would be harder to fathom. I really can't think of any kdrama that would deserve that rating. Regarding the restaurant analogy, I had experienced terrible service before, but if I had rated that dining experience and the food was excellent, I would certainly have rated the over-all experience at least 3/5. Why punish the cook for the waiter's fault?

Interstellar was cited not because of any similarity to TKEM. It just invariably gets featured in lists of movies that are supposed to make one think. As noted, it didn't make me think as much as TKEM. Likewise, Heirs, CLOY and IC were mentioned not because of similarity to TKEM, but just to emphasize the point that not all movies stimulate the brain cells like TKEM.

the lowest film rating i ever gave was 4/10, to a movie that seemed to be wholesome but turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing because the main gist was anti-morality. For all its immorality, I could not deny the high-caliber acting, cinematography and over-all quality of the film and felt any rating lower than a 4 would be unfair. So I cannot understand this obsession about ads that would cause people to give films that feature them 7% of the time a rating of 1/10 . But I guess this is a case that we can agree to disagree.

lol, that was what i thought too after reading about the PPLs in TKEM, that i would be distracted now, looking out for them next time I watch the drama. but when i got in the zone of the drama next time i watched it, i forgot all about the ads

perhaps I just got too engrossed in the story, I didn't notice any flaw

except for the coffee that was incorporated in the story, I only noticed the other ads after reading about the hullabaloo over them