L13

There was another grand prince in addition to the crown prince and the current king, so yes, she had three sons at least. I thought Yooha was the son of the late grand prince, but the subtitles called him the crown prince in episode 8. I wonder if it was a translation error or something more complex.

Yooha is obviously the son of the late grand prince, not the late crown prince. The madam who arranged his meeting with the Left State Councillor used to serve the grand prince and we've gotten hints that she was his lover. That explains why she cares about Yooha and fits in with her telling Yooha that she used to have a relationship with his father.

Shiyeol's identity is the most mysterious yet, but whoever he is (and he may actually even be another royal, who knows), he's not Lee Seol. Lee Seol = Jade Dust = the boy Danoh saved as a child, who gave her one half of the compass that identified him as the crown prince's son. That child is Kang San, who told her when she saved him after he was injured that she's always saving him/he's grateful to her again. And today, when Ban Ya told him that her family was eradicated for supporting the crown prince, he looked stricken and asked her what her father's name was. That was the look of someone who felt personally responsible for her misfortune.

It obviously is, though? Yooha is the son of the late grand prince (the current king and the late crown prince's brother, whom the brothel madam served and loved in the past), Shiyeol most likely has some connection to the Watchman who protected Lee Seol during the rebellion and knows more than he lets on about who the other two scholars are, and San is Lee Seol. He was the boy Danoh met as a child, as his sickbed comment that it was her again who saved him indicates, and that boy was the crown prince's son, as the compass thingy Danoh now has shows. We got another clue pointing in that direction today: San's stricken, obviously guilty reaction to Ban Ya telling him that her family was destroyed for supporting the crown prince.

The only backstory I'm not sure about is Shiyeol's because of the old man who serves him and calls him 'your highness.' It's not clear yet whether Shiyeol is pretending to be a royal as part of some scheme, whether that scheme is self-interested or part of the Watchmen's duties, or whether he actually has royal blood of his own maybe. But he's not the boy from Danoh's past and so he's not Jade Dust. His medical knowledge and evasive answer when he was asked how he acquired it deepens the mystery of his background... The scene in today's episode where Shiyeol told Danoh's sister that the night Lee Seol escaped (and was saved from the Six Swords by the Watchman) was the worst night of his life is another puzzle piece, but I can't see how it all fits together just yet. I wonder if the Watchman was his father and died from his wounds that night or something like that. But since Shiyeol was *already* drinking out of sadness in a tavern when he crossed paths with Heungjo's fiancé, who was happy because he was going to get married—i.e., Shiyeol's day already sucked before the Six Swords, whom Heungjo's fiancé was a member of, caught up with Lee Seol and were killed by the Watchman—it's possible that the reason that was the worst day of his life is connected to the crown prince's downfall instead of the Watchman... Again, he's the one guy I can't figure out yet.

In any case, the drama has been telegraphing San's identity since the first episode, but since it hasn't been revealed explicitly yet, it's only natural there will be some red herrings along the way to keep us guessing and fill up the time until the grand reveal. The fact it's episode 7 and everyone in the drama is so convinced San is the Watchman and we're left guessing whether Jade Dust is Yooha or Shiyeol only reinforces my conviction that the actual answer is San, because there's no way the drama will give it away so easily.

It's obvious San is Lee Seol and everything else is misdirection. I hope we get to the reveal soon, though, so the plot can progress.

That's every jdrama ever. "Our society is stifling and hidebound and it oppresses women, who are all beautiful flowers that just need to love themselves and stop caring about other people's expectations to bloom. That's why you, the single 30-something female viewer, need a hot younger boyfriend who won't ask you to quit job when you get married." There's always a dream career opportunity in the last episode too that the woman chooses to take with her man's support even if it will mean a long-distance relationship.

Jdramas all have the same message about putting yourself first and learning to live the kind of life that makes you happy even if other people don't approve. It actually leads to pretty clichéd and hamfisted storytelling sometimes.

Do we know if this is getting a fansub?

I don't think she was even conscious of the fact she was doing the same thing to WJ that had been done to her? That was part of the irony of the situation, and contributed to her obvious pattern of hypocrisy in this week's episodes? Plus we have no reason to assume she immediately dissociates any time the topic of dating a married man, which she has had to think about for 15 years, comes up? Her trauma seems to be centred on being publicly humiliated and not on the specific backstory. Also in general if everyone always reacted to situations in real life according to a psychiatry textbook, there would be no unique personalities in the world.

Sorry, I just don't think this is a particularly valid point.

It's not like she literally disowned her children or anything, she was overdramatic for one evening and was fine from then on out. My parents would be far more unbearable if they learned our family home was gone and I hadn't told them for months. I think you're being unreasonable here, not the mother.

You could have looked up more photos of him before asking the question.

Expected what, a separation or the threat of separation at the beginning of the last episode? Yeah, that’s every romantic kdrama ever. You people sound like goldfish watching their first human show when you convince yourselves Call It Love will have a sad ending despite all signs pointing to the contrary.

The setting is late 2021-early 2022, not 2019

It's not noble idiocy when the obstacles are real, though. To me noble idiocy refers to one party deciding to leave the other unilaterally because they think it's for the best even though from the viewer's perspective they could just commit to their love and talk it out together.

But WJ has always known her mother would disapprove of WJ being with the child of her cheating husband's new wife, and I'm sure when DJ learns who WJ is he'll see her point. This isn't something that can be resolved by the two of them just being more determined, at least not without them cutting off their families, which WJ would never do. For their relationship to flourish, the people around them will also have to become more open-minded and/or face the consequences of their actions.

Because they have distinct personalities?

I feel like the fact they cast Nagayama Eita as the husband means he'll be the endgame, which is annoying because I don't like his character at all in the manga. When I first heard about this drama I thought he was supposed to play Makoto and was so hyped, but alas.

He's officially blacklisted for getting high and minding his business while scores of rapists, harassers and abusers continue to get lead roles and no one cares? South Korea is such a funny country.

I'm guessing Officer Bong will accept the fire inspector job with NFS, maybe. Perhaps the fire he was in at the end of S1 will leave him physically unable to keep working as a firefighter?

I'm guessing it will be because of WJ's brother; if she was mad at DJ about Minyoung, she'd tell him he's pathetic in her usual calm and brutal manner instead of starting a fight and demanding answers. Since WJ and DJ are still pretending they don't like each other, I don't think WJ would feel entitled to be openly upset and jealous over something like that. But the fact DJ has been harboring her brother in secret is a different matter; she's very protective of her family and sees it as something that falls within her authority, so I can see her getting really mad at DJ over it.

There have been some mawkish/reactionary notes throughout the drama, but the stillbirth case in ep. 9 really takes the cake. A suicidal minor who gives birth to a stillborn baby in secret and throws away the corpse because she has no idea what to do with it should not be subject to criminal prosecution—abandonment? of what? there was never even a child! SHE's a child!—and treating what she did like some huge error of judgement/dereliction of personal responsibility that needs to be litigated in court instead of offering her counselling and sending her on her way is absurd. Also why is there a whole police investigation into the father's identity when she doesn't want to share it? She didn't even know she was pregnant until it was too late, so how is the biological father implicated in her "crime"? And we're supposed to sympathise with Seol, who's incapable of behaving professionally, because she was abandoned as a baby? I don't care! She's living a comfortable life now, unlike the teen who gave birth on her own, without medical care, to a dead foetus and then tried to kill herself!

I'm sure the father will turn out to be a trusted adult or the dead kid or her brother or something and the drama will do a 180 and say, see, actually she's the victim here! now cry!, but I already know she's the victim. I do NOT give a shit if high schoolers get pregnant and abandon their babies, dead or alive, frankly. I don't think high schoolers should be forced to give birth or to be unwilling parents under any circumstances! I'm always on their side! I support abortion! So this whole episode feels extremely vindictive and nonsensical to me.

Kdramas' obsession with forcing unwilling women to be mothers is really gross, frankly, and I wish Korean conservatives would wake up to the fact their treatment of women as broodmares, which is reflected in how Korean TV portrays the subject, is part of the reason their precious birth rate is so low.

Also, seriously, Seol is such a useless paramedic. When Detective Jin was dying, she totally lost her composure and started screaming at his unconscious body in the ambulance to wake up instead of doing her job, a development the writer put in so we'd see how much she cares about him—but then his heart miraculously restarted and she got an award for saving his life through the power of love or something. Then she stopped a teen from committing suicide, became overinvested in the case and followed her around everywhere because the teen reminded her of another person she'd failed to save previously. Okay. But then it turned out the teen had been—gasp!—pregnant and given birth to a stillborn baby, so now Seol is a bitch to her because she hates parents who abandon their children and somehow stillbirth = abandonment by the stupid woman-hating logic of the drama. Like, seriously, lady, learn to do your job because it's your job and not because of your personal relationship to/attitude toward the victim, Jesus fucking Christ!

Thank you very much! Will check them out.

lol I have to say I'm a sucker for it. What other firefighter romances are you aware of? I'm always on the lookout for ones I haven't seen.