annelee2019

I agree with you that figuring out the time and space in this story is a mind-blowing experience. So I stopped trying to do that a while ago. :)

The old man probably needed additional time to raise money for a ransom, so it took him over a year to go back. Other things... I just hope that they have a full moon every 29.5 days, like normal people do.

My current theory is that what we are shown is a memoir, not a historical chronicle (this is somewhat confirmed by Gil Chae's narration in Episodes 1 and 10). Memoirs are based on people's memories and therefore unreliable in terms of details. The order of things can also be confusing.

Well-said, thank you!

The director seems to be in love with him, too. He's giving him tons, and tons, and tons of scenes - and tons, and tons, and tons of time to just sit in places in beautiful hanboks and emote whatever he wants. :)

Wait, why did you stoppppp? I was enjoying this real-time reaction very much :))))

I think a lot of people misunderstand that loving another person, even as deeply and unwaveringly as Jang Hyun does Gil Chae, can never be your whole life and the meaning behind it. Love can be a beacon of hope or a long-term regret that keeps you humble - but, like the sly eunuch put it, life goes on regardless, whether you have something or not.

The writer did a great job showing a transformation of a man who never believed in love, never wanted a serious relationship, and lost interest soon after capturing a woman's heart into... well, mopey Jang Hyun who toasts the moon and wants to be called an ugly rock. That makes him a wonderfully flawed 3D character with a chink in his plot armor, not a flat one.

And yes, his speech about how normal men should never treat abused women as tainted only goes to show that he is the one for Gil Chae. He would have her regardless of her previous experience. Her current husband? I don't know. Seems like a jealous type. Maybe he is only jealous of Jang Hyun, though. We'll see very soon.

GREAT POINTS, all of them. Say it louder to the people in the back.

I realize that the director and editors want to build up the tension to the max before the leads reunite, but it gets harder and harder to suspend my disbelief that the very observant Jang Hyun cannot spot a familiar stationary figure in a small square, while the running for her life Gil Chae turns to look at some bandit with a bow in a huge field. I didn't believe that was it for them both times. We get it - they are star-crossed lovers that constantly miss their timing. It's just feels unnecessary repetitive to show that twice.

I do miss the more streamlined flow of the first few episodes, because this tool of unreliable narration cannot be used too often. It requires a lot of work from the audience to remember all the visual clues and follow the complicated logic throughout literally tens of minutes of airtime - and we are not dealing with a detective story here. This started as early as in Episode 10, and it needs to be done with already.

I agree with your point. She could say to literally anybody, "fetch Interpreter Lee, I'm his kin, he'll give you everything you ask for," and because he's a well-known power figure in Simyang, they will be too happy to oblige. Yet she feels she is not in the position to use him in this way, probably putting him in danger in the process. It's her path, and she does not shy away from her responsibility as a noble lady, either. I admire her character so very much.

Perseverance through love - that's an excellent way to put it! If you bear to look at the multitude of stories depicted in the show, most characters, even minor ones, survived because they had to take care of someone precious to them or showed kindness to strangers. And in both episode 11 and 12, we saw several seemingly random people reacting to Jang Hyun or Gil Chae's kindness - it lit their faces with hope.

I agree. Life is depicted as complex, hard, and unpredictable, the characters are not without flaws, they have their past, and they all evolve all the time - that's certainly not your typical melodrama people watch for the comfort of tropes they know and love and heart-fluttering moments between lovers.

My Dearest does have a captivating love line to hold the story together. But most of the story happens while the leads are separated and go about their own lives, which are as different as they can be.

You have just written the best synopsis for this page. *sigh* Let's replace the current one with your version.

Speaking of sugar. A whole lump of it at the beginning of Episode 11 - I nearly fell out of my chair when they showed us that intimate scene in Jang Hyun's memories. I mean, I thought we are getting the highest form of romance possible - when the two lovers are communicating with gazes and semi-accidental touches over a span of fifty years. I thought the barley field kiss in Part 1 was it. I was totally unprepared for seeing this kind of memory. Turns out, Jang Hyun was serious when he teased Gil Chae that he wanted to get physical with her. The choppy editing of the scene, which ends in the middle of the kiss makes us wonder if they stopped after that. If this was to "defeat the audience's expectations," I was floored.

The second piece of sugar in Episode 12 was mixed with sadness. Gil Chae was halfway in love with Jang Hyun back then, when they both were in Hanyang, and the war was officially declared over. If only he stayed a little longer, was a little more honest, spent time with her, showered her with genuine affection, let her in, maybe, he would have her, a silk dress or no dress. But it was obvious that he didn't know how to deal with his feelings at the time. She made him happy, she made him shy, she made him vehemently angry by being loyal to her feelings towards Yeon Jun. Again, if only he stayed until Yeon Jun and Eun Ae's wedding and saw Gil Chae giving up and letting go... Well. If that was the case, it would be a much shorter drama, wouldn't it?

A couple of shorter notes, of things that I really-really liked:
- Yeon Jun and Reung Eum's travelling together. I could have never guessed it would be such an interesting pairing.
- Reung Eum himself. What a great character. You may hate him for obvious reasons, but he feels and understands things on such a fine-grained level, it's beautiful. Besides, he was the catalyst for the overall Jang Hyun's slave-saving operation.
- Young Ran's story, all of it. Such a brave girl with a delicate soul.
- Jang Hyun and Gol Dae's twisted bromance (the guy was SO HAPPY when his favorite interpreter returned from Joseon).
- Jang Hyun's moping about Gil Chae in the company of other women that are meant to make him forget about her (the second encounter with the Mongolian girl felt a bit repetitive, but the scene itself was hilariously funny with her slamming the door on the babbling guest of honor).
- Gil Chae's breaking that vase. I cheered. Such a clever girl. Fearless. Fierce.
- Jong Jong's trying to find a way to inform Jang Hyun of their plight (she is often seen as meek, somewhat dim-witted, lacking the guts and the initiative. While at the Qing palace, she became much braver).
- Everyone considers Gil Chae beautiful - everyone but Jang Hyun, who thinks she is just great and sparkling (haters, take note. He admires her ACTIONS, THINKING, and ENERGY, not the looks).
- Crown Prince and especially his spouse have grown on me considerably.

I wish everyone a good rest until the next Friday. We'll need strength to endure another two episodes. The editing of the previews is plain awful, with concurrent shots of the same character, but in different clothes or light, and attempts to build a misleading impression by piecing together a dialogue from phrases that are miles apart in the actual episode.

And I just hope the director would cut it out with the non-linear narration already. When you are shown a scene, and the next time, it takes about 40 minutes (or two episodes, like with the Episode 10 finale) to explain how we got there, it's nice only the first couple of times. It has already become frustrating, just like the guessing game, if Jang Hyun has seen Gil Chae or not (I don't think so), if she has seen him or not (maybe; it's a huge field, and half of his face is covered with that bow.) If anything, Jang Hyun has proclaimed that he won't see her even if he meets her again, won't even look at her, and this curse is still active. They both feel each other's presence, but think that they are seeing things... I want to punch someone out of frustration. Let them meet already, it's ridiculous. We need real sugar here!

Oh, it's going to be a loooong post, I'm afraid... I have so many thoughts.

Episodes 11 and 12 felt like one long tragic war-themed movie that the authors struggled to cut in half, make more palatable for the audience that tuned in for romance by adding sprinkles of levity, spoonfuls of Jangchae sugar here and there, and sewing it all up with solid threads of love, comradeship, compassion, and mercy. Even if I can't stomach rewatching certain parts of this duology, I'm in awe with the quality of writing and the depth and tactfulness of visual representation of certain very sensitive subjects.

For those still hung up on Gil Chae's marriage and her possible infidelity - one of the themes of this epic is that moral superiority is a crude tool of those who are safe and not caught in the middle of an impossible life-and-death situation.

It's easy to judge other people when you are sitting in a cozy living room with a shiny laptop on your table and a warm blanket around your shoulders (or, similarly, in a nice golden throne room surrounded by yes-men and protected by rows of guards). Of course, women who were abused by foreign intruders should commit suicide. It's only fair that people that went through unimaginable horrors and barely escaped death should be returned to their tormentors so that the "country" (i. e. the king) would survive.

And Gil Chae should have run away with Jang Hyun leaving her family in the hands of the idealistic but totally useless Yeon Jun with a surprisingly vengeful groom who has provided the source of their income (i. e. the forge). Sure. Or she could marry officer Gu but refuse to perform her wifely duty on principle. Because he would understand, his love for her was so selfless and free of doubt. Or she should never let Jang Hyun see her again, let alone save her, let alone touch her hand, because that would make her an adulturess (spoiler: she has done that already. She ran away with Jang Hyun and spent a night alone with him after receiving her wedding gifts from another man. The said man knew about it. Did go through with the wedding, fully knowing he's never getting her heart, just a pretty outer shell and a business partner. Signed up for a life of doubting and spying on her (how else he would find out about Ryang Eum's connection to Jang Hyun and that Gil Chae went to see Jang Hyun off?).

I understand the wish to make such complicated matters simple and square and tie them with a neat bow, but, again, moral superiority is only good when you are safely out of danger. It's also a form of psychological self-defense. The drama does a great job of calling this out, how prejudice is harmful, how ideals are useless, and how selfish and predatory people can be. Instead, it highlights the important things that help people survive - affection, connection, self-sacrifice, responsibility, kindness, acceptance.

I cried quite a bit during this two-parter, not gonna lie to you. But even though the episodes were pretty dark, they were also filled with hope, and Jang Hyun's plea to the Crown Prince to endure it to the end, no matter what, is the main thread of this story. We will suffer together with the characters until the end - and there's no use guessing what kind of ending it will be. The path is worth walking.

Manager Kim with Namgoong Min and Lee Junho. It's hilarious

If anything, Reung Eum is the person that Jang Hyun saved, tucked under his wing, and nurtured as a younger brother - so that indicates the goodness of Jang Hyun's heart.

I also really liked the use of Reung Eum's singing talents in the drama - he was instrumental to the success of that spying op in the Qing camp, and saved Jang Hyun's skin when he was to be executed.

He is an interesting one, very loyal, aside from that one-sided love. He was tolerating Jang Hyun's fascination with Gil Chae pretty well - until he saw that shoes closet and realized that his hyungnim was a goner. I kind of understand where he was coming from with not letting Gil Chae know Jang Hyun was alive - by that time, he knew she was engaged and thought it was a great way just to let the things unfold as they would by lying. And lying about Jang Hyun's death wasn't the thing that decided the outcome. He basically told the girl that his friend never cared about her and never mentioned her to him.

(Asking him to be the merry messenger was a terrible idea, by the way - hasn't Jang Hyun realized his feelings? Has he forgotten how Reung Eum lied about who Gil Chae looked at first after hearing the news of the war? Why couldn't he send a letter - it's an easier task for the sullen boy to deliver a piece of paper than to drum up some enthusiasm and deliver the news of his arrival personally. I know, I know - everyone must suffer...)

I think the drama insists that we should know the dates of the Qing invasion from our history lessons or at least from the Wikipedia - which I refuse to do on principle, because watching TV should not be accompanied by homework.

From what I read on Twitter, the crown prince was with the Qing for about 6 years and was allowed to visit his father after 3 years. Definitely not a couple of months - because the journey to (and back) would actually take a month or so. The drama is not very good at letting us understand the times, the distances, and the layout of the land, so this part is really confusing even if you do your homework.

I don't think that children are in the cards for Gil Chae and Jang Hyun - because they tie people down, and the author needs them to move about and make personal decisions. It also goes against the aesthetics of high romance.

But how it all ends is anybody's guess. I haven't guessed anything in this drama so far.

Great analysis, thank you!

In Viki subtitles, their arguments are not sweet bickering at all. They are very cruel to each other.

By the way, now that we are waiting for Part 2, I recommend VIKI subtitles. They come later than the KOCOWA ones, but sometimes they provide more context.
Examples for ep. 10 under the spoiler.