I can understand the perspective of others in regards to whether he actually loves her or just the idea of her…
My point - they don't actually HAVE THIS CONVERSATION. One can possibly infer it from the interactions in Jeju. And none of this explains the SMILING as they walk AWAY from each other under the cherry blossoms in the last scene! That's simply absurd given what this drama has not shown us! Completely unfulfilling & nonsensical when seen from a realistic point of view. Left me with a very nasty aftertaste. I don't demand happy endings, but I DO demand resolved ones, and this one did not have that - just a pasted on overvoice which did not tell us why it was so impossible for them to get together! I guess no one told the writer(s) that the kind of dementia his mom is said to have is FATAL? I've a friend who's mom & then mother-in-law both passed from Alzheimer's - within a 5 year period. So there is NOT a reason for them to remain separated. Plus, again. discussions of this should happen between lovers - not just an inference but an actual, let's sit down & talk about it kind of thing.
This drama :( The whole theme, as tleaf sets out very coherently, does center around the 'frozen' lives of this Japanese family, and the parallel state of numbness Kai's character moves in. The way his interaction with this family benefits both is beautifully done, and the characters are well-rounded and interesting. The love story also is sweet and real. HOWEVER, unfortunately, the ending fails because it hints rather than explains. There are some clues about what is going on but no articulation of it, neither between the characters themselves (which happens in life) nor (much more dissatisfying) by the show itself. I trust the novel this was based on did indeed have more exposition of the author's point. If I were to hazard a guess, it is that the Korean boy never really loved the Japanese girl - he fell in love with her family - with the idea of being IN a family - due to his troubled past. He'd been running from that and with her help was finally able to figure out that he needed to go home and deal with his own family problems. Lovely. If he'd SAID to her, when she followed him to Jeju, that he couldn't be sure he really loved HER, when he explained the effect her family had on him - that would have been MUCH better. If the last scene had taken place YEARS later, when both had definitely moved on (instead of looking like a year or two at the most), with our girl's voice over including that little nugget - that he'd not really loved her but the idea of family that hers gave him (instead of just hinting at that knowledge when she fails to tell him her mother died) then the whole thing would be indeed an insightful look at the different ways love and family effect people, and the smiles of both of them as they WALK AWAY from each other would make sense & feel satisfying. As it is, however, I felt hollow. There was NO reason for them to do that on meeting again. WHY would they do that? Why would they not sit and talk about their feelings, their lives? What made it so impossible for them to come together if they really did love each other? We are made to play a ridiculous guessing game. It felt false, manufactured, a patent statement against any 'happy' ending or some aborted way of saying that people can learn from each other, and love each other, without ending up together - aborted because it's simply not SHOWN. I knew when that artful but staged (ie completely unrealistic) parting happened on Jeju - them running to each other only to turn & walk away as the snow fell - that this production was falling into that trap of destroying credibility for some sort of artistic 'statement'.
I really wish every dramatist would truly study what Shakespeare managed to do with his plays. He never fell into this trap. He knew how to create a masterpiece of insightful playacting without ever losing sight of the STORY he was telling (or retelling).
Why, all so very fine & dandy, except!!!!!! The ending is wayyyy forced. There is absolutely no reason they don't…
I'm NOT dumping on you - I'm dumping on the writer(s). I actually like what you wrote - it most likely is spot-on as far as the writer(s) intent. I disagree that this is a GOOD ending - if you like it that's your taste.
Your take on the drama (that no one can see anymore, sadly) was very on point as to what the writer was aiming for - I think it a pity you are so upset over the fact that I don't like what the WRITER did, and are taking it so personally :(
a really good drama start out point was really a bliss
Ending sucks tho. I always hate it when a writer wants an artsy 'meaningful' ending and forces stupidity on us in the name of 'edgy' . Ruined what otherwise really was lovely.
I think people need to stop focusing on the ending. After you finish the series, watch the first episode again…
Why, all so very fine & dandy, except!!!!!! The ending is wayyyy forced. There is absolutely no reason they don't get together (okay, I'm sure there is but it is simply not ADDRESSED in this script!) I really despise this kind of thing because sorry, parting like that, separated lovers blah blah blah is not beautiful AT ALL!!!! Now, if they had parted ways meaning to get back together but just never did, and they met like YEARS later at said exhibit, when both had moved on & had their own families etc, then all your 'deep thoughts' (which mirror those of the writer I'm sure) would make sense. But with this thing? I'm screaming - why aren't you getting back together now???? Idiotic.
OMG - well THIS just reinforced all my reasons for avoiding JDramas - I'm soooo sorry, really over artsy-fartsy forced ' let's have an unexpected ending but make these two lovers HAPPY about being parted for no DAMN good reasons!!!!!!! The drama was sweet & interesting, but you know what? NO they wouldn't have not got together if they really loved each other! What BS is THAT? In REAL life she would have figured out that he wasn't so much in love w/her as in love w/being accepted as part of her family - which means a BITTER sweet ending and not all the cherry blossoms & smiles. Sheesh. Stupid stupid stupid. EDIT: Just went to look the source of this up - a NOVEL. I'm betting they left off a GOOD DEAL of the explanations/heart searching/ REASONS for the split in the TV adaptation!
Spoiler, please,BTW they started BEFORE the whole sibling mix-up - they met before that. And guess what? Meeting…
???? You are imagining the moment you watch a drama. Her age has to do with how long she's been part of the family. If a 6 year old is introduced to a new 'brother' then finds out at age 16 he's not really, that's completely different. That's all. I guess you are saying the time line bothers you - which is understandable.
Spoiler, please,BTW they started BEFORE the whole sibling mix-up - they met before that. And guess what? Meeting…
She's 28. Try really hard to imagine the difference between knowing a brother as you grow up, to being told within a 4 month period - 'here's a brother: oops no he's not really'. How is just going back to what you always believed all your life (he's a STRANGER) hard to accept? Really! It's also not hard to understand feeling drawn to this new 'sister' & fighting it BTW. If they really WERE related, then yeah, giving in to such feelings WOULD be creepy (hence my continual gross-out over all the sister/brother love lines in Japanese Anime)
so who takes their children along when they go to meet someone for an affair???
For one thing, she was using the little girl as cover, & supposedly dropping her off somewhere. For another, there's something very iffy about all of that - as in, what was really going on? How was her terrible sister involved? I wonder if any of that will be completely explained?
I don't get it... the father firmly told Do Kyung that he can't marry Ji An because he can't make her happy and…
Obviously she's angsty because of her OWN issues. If she thought logically for a nano-second about it she'd realize Ji Soo, while growing up wealthy (oh, yeah, until her last year of HS her daddy was rich LOL) did not get raised by that disjointed uber-rich family and does NOT share their 'values' at all! Makes much more sense for Ji Ann's dad to be upset over Do Kyung (& of course Ji Ann IS very very wary w/good reasons!)
unlike everyone else I'm really liking Jisu's reaction and how she's treating her parents both the poor and the…
Spoiler, please, BTW they started BEFORE the whole sibling mix-up - they met before that. And guess what? Meeting some guy at age 28 who is suddenly declared your sibling is HARDLY the same as growing up w/someone thinking they are your brother or sister! I meet a guy, am told a month later he's my brother, then 3 months down the road find out he's not, there is NOTHING creepy about dating that guy, dear.
OMG Kai just gets more swoonworthy every frame - that's basically what I'm thinking LOL LOL LOL - when I can tear my libido out of my brain & think a bit, I'm truly liking the story - the lead actress is just so cute & that whole family very quirky :D
1 
And none of this explains the SMILING as they walk AWAY from each other under the cherry blossoms in the last scene! That's simply absurd given what this drama has not shown us! Completely unfulfilling & nonsensical when seen from a realistic point of view. Left me with a very nasty aftertaste. I don't demand happy endings, but I DO demand resolved ones, and this one did not have that - just a pasted on overvoice which did not tell us why it was so impossible for them to get together!
I guess no one told the writer(s) that the kind of dementia his mom is said to have is FATAL? I've a friend who's mom & then mother-in-law both passed from Alzheimer's - within a 5 year period. So there is NOT a reason for them to remain separated.
Plus, again. discussions of this should happen between lovers - not just an inference but an actual, let's sit down & talk about it kind of thing.
The whole theme, as tleaf sets out very coherently, does center around the 'frozen' lives of this Japanese family, and the parallel state of numbness Kai's character moves in. The way his interaction with this family benefits both is beautifully done, and the characters are well-rounded and interesting. The love story also is sweet and real.
HOWEVER, unfortunately, the ending fails because it hints rather than explains. There are some clues about what is going on but no articulation of it, neither between the characters themselves (which happens in life) nor (much more dissatisfying) by the show itself.
I trust the novel this was based on did indeed have more exposition of the author's point. If I were to hazard a guess, it is that the Korean boy never really loved the Japanese girl - he fell in love with her family - with the idea of being IN a family - due to his troubled past. He'd been running from that and with her help was finally able to figure out that he needed to go home and deal with his own family problems. Lovely.
If he'd SAID to her, when she followed him to Jeju, that he couldn't be sure he really loved HER, when he explained the effect her family had on him - that would have been MUCH better. If the last scene had taken place YEARS later, when both had definitely moved on (instead of looking like a year or two at the most), with our girl's voice over including that little nugget - that he'd not really loved her but the idea of family that hers gave him (instead of just hinting at that knowledge when she fails to tell him her mother died) then the whole thing would be indeed an insightful look at the different ways love and family effect people, and the smiles of both of them as they WALK AWAY from each other would make sense & feel satisfying.
As it is, however, I felt hollow. There was NO reason for them to do that on meeting again. WHY would they do that? Why would they not sit and talk about their feelings, their lives? What made it so impossible for them to come together if they really did love each other? We are made to play a ridiculous guessing game. It felt false, manufactured, a patent statement against any 'happy' ending or some aborted way of saying that people can learn from each other, and love each other, without ending up together - aborted because it's simply not SHOWN.
I knew when that artful but staged (ie completely unrealistic) parting happened on Jeju - them running to each other only to turn & walk away as the snow fell - that this production was falling into that trap of destroying credibility for some sort of artistic 'statement'.
I really wish every dramatist would truly study what Shakespeare managed to do with his plays. He never fell into this trap. He knew how to create a masterpiece of insightful playacting without ever losing sight of the STORY he was telling (or retelling).
EDIT: MDL made it look like the post was gone :(
Now, if they had parted ways meaning to get back together but just never did, and they met like YEARS later at said exhibit, when both had moved on & had their own families etc, then all your 'deep thoughts' (which mirror those of the writer I'm sure) would make sense. But with this thing? I'm screaming - why aren't you getting back together now????
Idiotic.
Sheesh. Stupid stupid stupid.
EDIT: Just went to look the source of this up - a NOVEL. I'm betting they left off a GOOD DEAL of the explanations/heart searching/ REASONS for the split in the TV adaptation!
Her age has to do with how long she's been part of the family. If a 6 year old is introduced to a new 'brother' then finds out at age 16 he's not really, that's completely different. That's all.
I guess you are saying the time line bothers you - which is understandable.
How is just going back to what you always believed all your life (he's a STRANGER) hard to accept? Really! It's also not hard to understand feeling drawn to this new 'sister' & fighting it BTW.
If they really WERE related, then yeah, giving in to such feelings WOULD be creepy (hence my continual gross-out over all the sister/brother love lines in Japanese Anime)
BTW they started BEFORE the whole sibling mix-up - they met before that. And guess what? Meeting some guy at age 28 who is suddenly declared your sibling is HARDLY the same as growing up w/someone thinking they are your brother or sister! I meet a guy, am told a month later he's my brother, then 3 months down the road find out he's not, there is NOTHING creepy about dating that guy, dear.