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Post by ajk on Jun 10, 2017 21:56:57 GMT -5
"Little fool. It was just her body, what did it matter?" There's the line that sticks. More on that later.
There are things you can fault about this episode. The death scene went on a little too long; of course way too much pop ballad that never fit the setting; and the psycho-Chunsim thing was always a little hard to swallow. But wow you sure can't accuse this series of playing it safe, not with such a huge turn coming completely in out of the blue, in what's still a fairly early episode. A brave piece of writing. I kept waiting for the tension to break, for Wola to get out of there somehow...and then the horrible feeling afterwards that she might actually end up doing what she did. It sure held your attention. (Of course I don't hate Wola like most people seem to, so maybe it didn't affect everybody else like it affected me.)
The terrible part of it is that this kind of thing used to happen a lot--the fates of rape victims in societies that placed so much emphasis on chastity. Destroyed lives and suicides and killings. Seeing it happen to someone who never had a bad word to say about anybody, it makes you sick.
So here's one question: Does Songi deserve any part of the blame for it? I mean, she had no reason to think her attendant would go loony on her...but between her annoyingly entitled attitude towards KJ and her inaction after hearing rumbles of harm coming to Wola, is it fair to say she's a little bit responsible for it? I don't know the answer; just asking.
And then about that throwaway comment by Chunsim at the end...After the attack I wondered what kind of life Wola could realistically have. KJ certainly would have still married her...certainly the wedding would have been postponed, but would Mrs. Choe still have sponsored the wedding? Would Wola be viewed as disgraced? She took the poison because she held onto her mother's views so tightly, but was she overreacting or would a young woman in her position be ruined?
Actually my thought was that at worst, she'd be welcomed back in the temple by that abbot. How's that for irony.
So this could go two ways now. The tragedy was caused by Choe U's son, and with KJ working for Choe U...this could totally change KJ into a different person and be the catalyst for what he later became (which we really don't see in him right now). Or else the whole thing is pure melodramatic manipulation for the sake of a filler story that has nothing to do with the real history. Considering how hard they pushed the Wola storyline, you certainly hope it's the former and not the latter.
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Post by jewel on Jun 14, 2017 0:28:45 GMT -5
1) and then the horrible feeling afterwards that she might actually end up doing what she did. It sure held your attention. (Of course I don't hate Wola like most people seem to, so maybe it didn't affect everybody else like it affected me.) 2) The terrible part of it is that this kind of thing used to happen a lot--the fates of rape victims in societies that placed so much emphasis on chastity. Destroyed lives and suicides and killings. Seeing it happen to someone who never had a bad word to say about anybody, it makes you sick. 3) So here's one question: Does Songi deserve any part of the blame for it? I mean, she had no reason to think her attendant would go loony on her...but between her annoyingly entitled attitude towards KJ and her inaction after hearing rumbles of harm coming to Wola, is it fair to say she's a little bit responsible for it? I don't know the answer; just asking. 4) And then about that throwaway comment by Chunsim at the end...("Little fool. It was just her body, what did it matter?" There's the line that sticks.) 5) After the attack I wondered what kind of life Wola could realistically have. KJ certainly would have still married her...certainly the wedding would have been postponed, but would Mrs. Choe still have sponsored the wedding? Would Wola be viewed as disgraced? She took the poison because she held onto her mother's views so tightly, but was she overreacting or would a young woman in her position be ruined? 6) Actually my thought was that at worst, she'd be welcomed back in the temple by that abbot. How's that for irony 1) Boy was I in for one of the biggest surprises in my K drama history. When this scene was being played out I had absolutely no doubt that something would happen to save her. They never made it clear that she actually took the poison until she started spewing blood so until then I thought KJ would talk her out of it. Then when it was made clear she did take the poison I still thought the doctor would somehow save her. I really thought she was the main lead girl till the end. I just couldn't believe it when she died. And Ajk, because I hated her it affected me more. If I had known she would die so soon in the series maybe I wouldn't have hated her so much. I feel really bad. I cried a lot for her. 2) Yes, what you say is true and this still happens in many parts of the world. 3) I don't put the blame on Songi. She does tell KJ that something was up. Now the person I do think deserves some blame, if not a huge chunk of it, is Yang Baek. Because he revealed to Chunsim that he likes Wola this all happened. When he came to arrest Chunsim and she was still going on about how happy she is to see him one last time, the look on his face seems to indicate he realizes he may be the cause of all this, I thought. 4) I really hated her at that moment when she said that. How dare she trivialize something like that? I'd like to see her say that if it happened to her own body. Of course something like this has never happened to me but let me tell you a little something that did happen to me one time to make you understand what kind of a trauma rape could cause a girl. I was visiting Korea a few years back. It was summertime and the weather very hot. My cousins and I were going somewhere and we all piled into a subway. Crowded but not too too bad. I ended up being separated from my cousins. We were all standing and we could all see each other but we couldn't make our way over to each other without causing some disturbance so we just stayed where we were and settled for sending facial messages to each other. I was standing near a man sitting and reading a newspaper. I had on a sleeveless top and was holding onto a pole near by. We were going along merrily when suddenly I felt something on my upper arm. I moved my arm away and looked to see what it was. The upper corner of the man's newspaper had brushed against my skin. No big deal. I just shifted out of his way. But a few minutes later I felt a stroke on my arm again. When I looked I couldn't believe it but the corner of the man's newspaper had followed me and had brushed along my upper arm again. When I managed to peer at his face he looked totally normal, just reading his paper. I didn't really know what to think. I moved away again. But when it happened the third time, I knew. I knew he was doing it on purpose. I sure didn't care about disturbing the crowd then - I pushed people aside to get to my oldest cousin and stood very close next to him for the rest of the ride. I don't remember where we went that day but I couldn't enjoy any of the sites and I couldn't eat anything, and I kept trembling the whole day. My cousins kept asking me what was wrong and I couldn't tell them. I actually never told this story to anyone till now. And I only tell you cause I don't ever have to meet any of you. I felt dirty and violated and I felt somehow it was my fault. Since that awful experience, whenever I hear stories about rape I feel it from the depth of my soul. If I felt that sick over something that was virtually nothing compared to a rape, of course I can imagine what these women who experienced the real thing would be going through. I just multiple the misery I felt that day by a thousand. I'm sorry this story is so long but I just had to share that with you all. There are so many people out there who try to minimize rape, both men and women, and it's just not right. 5) She would've had a miserable life. He may still have wanted to marry her but most likely she wouldn't have married him because she would've seen herself as a defiled and dirty goods. Loving him as she did I don't think she would have allowed him to make her his wife after that. No Ajk, she was not overreacting. She really didn't have much choice but to take the poison, from her perspective. 6) Would've been very ironic indeed. She would've been a very interesting character if she had survived the poison and lived her life out at the temple, pining away for KJ...
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Post by MTR on Jun 14, 2017 13:17:59 GMT -5
Not to sound callous but her bumping off was overdue, however it was made so tragic that even if you disliked the character you could not fail to be moved by her sad end.
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Post by ajk on Jun 14, 2017 22:12:58 GMT -5
Wow jewel I'm so sorry to hear that you were so deeply affected by that clown. What a loser!
Unfortunately there are quite a few random idiots out there and part of the price we pay these days just for living is occasionally having life disrupted by a random idiot. Usually just minor annoyance, occasionally more severe. It's not our fault, it's just the way things are. I finally had to accept that after a car accident caused by a reckless driver who had never driven in snow before (long story). Obviously your subway ride frightened the heck out of you but you don't have to feel any shame or discomfort in talking about it. Certainly was NOT your fault in the least. You had a random-idiot day and it was rotten luck, nothing you did. And I'm not trivializing it in the least; just hoping to give you another perspective on it. It's good that you're talking about it; never helps to keep those kinds of things bottled up. I hope time can take away some of the sting of it for you. (Easy for me to say, of course...) Random idiots must never defeat us! You hang in there.
About the episode...That did seem an oddly un-traditional attitude for Chunsim to take, acting like it was just a minor incident. It was just so sad that Wola couldn't free herself from her mother's beliefs, even enough to see whether or not she could have any semblance of a life with KJ afterwards. It would have made for a very interesting story going forward, to see how everyone else would have reacted to her and how her life with KJ would have ended up.
I did wonder why Wola wasn't in the main photo banner for the series--it has KJ, Songi, Choe U and Yangbaek but no Wola. I figured maybe she'd become less important as the series progressed. Like you I never thought this episode would end the way it did, even as it was happening. And you're right about Yangbaek. I don't know if he remembers what he said to Chunsim when he was so drunk that night, but either way it was a big button-pusher for what ended up happening. Maybe he'll swear off the sauce after this.
I see MTR is in the Wola Haters Club too. So apparently the cheese stands alone! Sigh.
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Post by jewel on Jun 15, 2017 16:07:17 GMT -5
1) part of the price we pay these days just for living is occasionally having life disrupted by a random idiot. 2) I did wonder why Wola wasn't in the main photo banner for the series--it has KJ, Songi, Choe U and Yangbaek but no Wola. I figured maybe she'd become less important as the series progressed. 3) Like you I never thought this episode would end the way it did, even as it was happening. 1) This should be made into a bumper sticker! Unfortunately I can't say I have never been that random idiot to some other poor innocent person - though never intentionally... 2) I actually noticed this too but never stopped to think why... 3) I actually didn't even think anything would happen to her at all. I mean I was positive in the beginning of all this that KJ would rescue her before that Manjong even got a chance to lay a finger on her. Boy, was I wrong.
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Post by ajk on Jun 16, 2017 18:06:58 GMT -5
Yeah that was what really added to the punch it packed--you just don't see things like this happen in historical dramas, especially with main characters in fairly early episodes. A total stunner.
p.s. jewel you will never be a random idiot to anybody. Fear not! It's not a matter of an inadvertent mistake; we all make those. It's the kind of person who's either too dumb or too self-absorbed to care that their actions may screw up somebody else's life. Clearly that isn't you and never will be.
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Post by jewel on Jun 17, 2017 9:48:07 GMT -5
p.s. jewel you will never be a random idiot to anybody. Fear not! It's not a matter of an inadvertent mistake; we all make those. It's the kind of person who's either too dumb or too self-absorbed to care that their actions may screw up somebody else's life. Clearly that isn't you and never will be. This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. You really made my day - thank you!
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