k1zaroo

captivating from start to finish - the visuals, the score and of course the stellar performances

all in all i think the drama wrapped up quite nicely! (and now i feel a bit bad for suspecting gyehoon's father a few episodes back... ) i never quite felt that the episodes dragged on nor did i find any scenes to be simple "filler." sure, it wasn't always action packed, but i think the slightly slower pace fit well with a show that dealt a lot with tragedy and how it can affect not only its victims but their families as well for years to come. some characters needed a bit of time to be fully fleshed out and i feel that reducing the number of episodes wouldn't have allowed for that.

and while i see a lot of people are still curious about the killer's motives, personally i almost don't want to know. maybe it's just me, but i don't think a killer's story always needs to see the light of day - there was enough darkness in this show to begin with. i feel that link's focus was more on the effects of what happened rather than the why - as knowing the why can't necessarily change things, especially for the characters. their pain wouldn't have lessened. you could argue that it may provide closure, but i think that the drama was trying to make a point of that by the end too. no matter the circumstances we have to learn to forgive ourselves, allow ourselves to be happy, and live on for those who can't.

as always, there's no real doubt in my mind that the leads will get back together... but it rly saddens me to see that they both suffer from survivor's guilt in some way and the root of their issues lies with the adults in their lives - both at the time of the incident and much long after... the harsh way gyehoon's mother treats him and dahyun's mother/grandmother constantly hiding the truth from her (although i may be apt to forgive them just a tad given the circumstances). gyehoon and dahyun rly only have one another for reassurance. they constantly remind each other that neither one should feel any sort of guilt surrounding this whole tragedy and i think that's what makes them a rly special pair.

as an aside, jingoo's characters rly have an affinity for barging into people's basements uninvited lol - i couldn't help but be reminded of beyond evil during that scene... especially with the sort of reaction gyehoon had (or lack thereof) after being found down there.

a bit stumped on theories at this point - my only guess is that the suspicious man in the alley that the stalker met up with was gyehoon's father. he looked rly shocked to see him at first and mentioned something like "oh you still live here?" right? and i know some people have made guesses that the female cop could be gyehoon's sister, but i've never rly thought that could be a possibility until they had her stare longingly at the piano sitting out in the alley. i was a bit caught off guard until it cut to her memory with the officer - then i just felt faked out lol

i'm still curious about the whole link phenomenon. had dahyun never been able to feel gyehoon's emotions until recently, or was it because he never rly let himself feel anything quite as strong as her? intense emotions seem to set it off, at least from what i've understood, and while gyehooon's been back in the neighborhood he's never rly let himself feel anything until he broke down and cried over the memory with his father. i wonder if we'll ever get a proper explanation for it.

that aside, i know he probably never will but i wish gyehoon would snap on the next person who blames him for his sister's disappearance. i rly don't understand how all these people find it logical to blame a child for anything that happened. i know the people in town are probably just treating him as a sort of scapegoat, since it seems like they had their hands in things one way or another, but it's just so unfair.

agreed! i also found his push to showcase the twins' supposed connection and his constant reassurance of it to be a bit odd. i'm still on the fence about whether it was rly the twins who were connected from the start and not gyehoon and dahyun instead. i feel like the father's behavior easily could have swayed gyehoon's thinking about the whole link phenomenon... hopefully we'll learn a bit more about it in the coming eps as the latest preview seemed to suggest.

i don't want to suspect gyehoon's father in all of this, but based on the absolute mystery that surrounds him in the present context and jingeun's hesitation to tell gyehoon who the real culprit is - the whole "you won't like the truth" sort of vibe - i've become suspicious. i realize we're 8 episodes in and he hasn't been mentioned hardly at all, but there was a weird air about the scene shortly after gyehoon first revealed his name... the townspeople shared messages along the lines of "dr. eun's son is back." it could mean absolutely nothing, yet it sticks out in my mind for some reason... like you're supposed to remember him for later? (assuming he is a doctor in this theory as i can't recall if we learned what either of his parents did for work.)

thank you for saying this cos i was just about to comment something about it! i've also seen a few people here and there questioning how dahyun acts in light of thinking that he's still alive - like how she shouldn't be walking around alone at night, etc. i get trying to be safer but she shouldn't have to uproot her whole way of doing things because of his creepy actions. it comes off to me as victim-blaming and i feel that they wouldn't say these things if he wasn't played by a more conventionally attractive actor.

i get that some people tend to blame the victims and/or their families when it comes to cases like these but i still find it rly odd that practically half the town keeps saying that the parents/gyehoon should have taken better care of gyeyoung. like no one should be at fault except for the person (or people?) that took/hurt her. it just makes me more and more suspicious that they witnessed or aided in something they shouldn't have and are all trying to cover up for whoever it may be - like they're trying to shift their guilt onto someone else.

i had thought about the piano teacher covering up for the cop son (?) too after this latest ep... it'd definitely be an interesting way to take the story. with the sort of friendship the show will most likely build between the cop and gyehoon, as you mentioned, that could be a reason to stray from this theory but also i imagine, if that was the truth, that could make the reveal all the more heart-wrenching? if they happened to become close despite desperately trying to ignore one another at first and then have it all come crashing down in the end... it's hard to tell. with the way the piano teacher phrased what little information he gave to gyehoon something tells me someone else may have taken her and perhaps he couldn't rescue her in time. as of right now i definitely think the neighborhood is at least trying to cover up for /someone/ seeing the way they all reacted with gyehoon revealing his identity and their immediate race to inform everyone. it's almost like they thought they were in the clear with him gone and now they've got to reconvene lol

ah yea that’s a great point, i can certainly see that aspect of it just as much (if not more than what i mentioned) - he clearly harbors a lot of guilt over what happened. i’m rly curious to see how the show will explore the relationship he has with his mother and how it will change as he/we come to learn more about the case.

i feel like he moved back into this town because he knows his father's there (if our theory rings true) i'm not sure if officers have much say in where they're stationed but i can imagine he wanted to work in his hometown specifically because of the whole cold case - i feel like the writers keep making him come off as indifferent to things, like the remark he made about not caring about that one incident cos he doesn't get paid enough, to sort of try and throw us off why he's rly there? he does give off very strange vibes though... like one of those types that feels like they're enacting their own sort of justice but has probably taken one or two things a bit far

now that i've caught up with episode 4 i'm rly stuck wondering if gyehoon has just been feeling dahyun's emotions this entire time as opposed to his sister's (or possibly the three of them are/were all linked?) because if his sister and dahyun were friends growing up she easily could have just been in the vicinity during all the supposed twin link moments - plus, a small part of me just thinks gyehoon may be misremembering things here and there since he felt those strong connections when he was a little kid... it's clear their parents rly pushed the whole twin link thing seeing as they took them to that talent type tv show and that could be part of the reason he feels so certain that he was feeling solely his sister's emotions? that aside i'm kind of curious as to why he kept telling dahyun not to fall for him if he had suspicions she wasn't his sister this entire time... sure, he couldn't 100% guarantee things until the dna test but part of me is thinking he's just scared he won't be able to tell between his own feelings and whatever he's feeling on behalf of dahyun

definitely agree with your theory about the officer being the kid who confessed to gyehoon! his potential motives for becoming a cop/moving back into the town have me really curious. i have a feeling the whole body being moved situation might have to do with the woman who came to dahyun's mother and grandmother towards the end of ep 3... if she noticed them putting it in the fridge then perhaps she noticed when gyehoon and his friend were gearing up to move the fridge back into the restaurant? i imagine she was probably hyper-aware of the fridge after witnessing two people stuff a body into it

are we all under the impression that the junior/new police officer in town is the kid who wrote the confession letter? his discomfort during their little eating session at the station is making me lean that way - plus the child actor reminded me of him a bit. one thing i am curious about though is, if this is the case, why'd he become an officer? to possibly clear his father's name (although he wasn't convicted, as the case remains unsolved - guessing being a suspect did not help his rep) or he himself is suspicious still and wants to help solve things? his hostility towards gyehoon makes me think the former, but that very well could be misleading...

from what we've seen so far the linking of emotions seems to just be a strange phenomenon - something about it makes me think it's not because they were twins... only gyehoon seemed to reciprocate his sister's emotions and not the other way around (like it's never been a mutual thing?) it makes me wonder if the sister and dahyun have some sort of connection as well as opposed to the other theories that treat her as a "replacement" for the sister (ie the heart transplant thing) or her being his literal sister. since the show seems to highlight a lot about violence committed against women i'm guessing dahyun must've witnessed whatever happened to the sister or perhaps they were both kidnapped and she made it out since she seems to have a lot of survivor's guilt based on how she treated the whole situation with her stalker?

yea if that was the case i could see them taking a couple of different routes with it... personally, i don't think it'll be anything like a heart transplant - probably something more supernatural/fantastical in general. like the linking of emotions is just a strange phenomenon or maybe dahyun had some sort of connection with his sister before? because i find it strange that (at least from what we've seen so far) she doesn't seem to feel his emotions, only he feels hers.

there was no mention of that in the first episode! i think people are just trying to theorize as to why their emotions would be linked if the sister is supposedly dead? and i guess a heart transplant could be an option since that'd mean like, a "part" of the sister is literally with dahyun!

great start! love the mix of genres and general concept for the show - definitely has me wondering how it will all turn out... (plus, it's amusing to see how the cast overlaps with beyond evil for some of the secondary/background characters - seeing that jingoo's the ml)

not sure if i'm making an obvious observation or something totally off-base... (not sure how well i'll be able to articulate what i mean either but alas) did anyone else get the impression that the people in the residence were sort of meant to act as parallels or perhaps exaggerations of people in jongu's outer circle that he either already knew or met when he came to seoul? the clearest example to me being the sex offender (hong) and the creep at his office. like... in a way the frustrations he felt with those in his outer circle could more justifiably (?) be taken out on those in the residence since they were ya know... killing people. i feel like i could clearly connect certain pairs of characters more than others but... just something to be considered?

definitely one of my all-time favorite dramas! that being said... a note to anyone who is considering watching or in the midst of the show and unsure of whether or not to continue - personally, i'd say this show becomes less about finding out who the killer is and more so about all the connections everyone in town has to them. there's lots of twists and turns and oftentimes you'll feel lead one way - but something will still feel a bit off... and for good reason. i didn't find the pacing all that slow if i'm being honest, but i can see how it may come off that way - especially if you're going into it expecting more of a "who dunnit" type of story. we learn who the killer is early on so there's lots of time left for other elements of the story to be unpacked.