A Farewell to SEOUL 1945

[Candylover]

A collection of SEOUL 1945 video clips (but, without English subtitles)
Scroll down to see video for each link.

Opening
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo?Redirect=Log&logNo=70002910305

music video
youtube.com/watch?v=xh5QPkLDmY4

music: For ever and Ever - Russ Morgan
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003289167

A scene from episode 1: DW finds OH in the car trunk
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003320561

A scene from episode 1: DW aims gun at OH
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003071012

A scene from episode 1: OH and KH are seperated at the 38th parallel
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003071958

A scene from episode 1: DW goes to the court
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70004133617

A scence from episode 1: DW, KH and SK in court
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70004134227

A scene from episode 2: in front of firing squad
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003283164

A scene from episode 2: Preview
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003074400

A scene from episode 2: OH meets CH
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003126532

A scene from episode 2: Young OH and KH in the railroad station
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003124997

A scene from episode 2: OH meets KH
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003116072

A scene from episode 2: OH meets SK
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003119615

A scene from episode 2: CJ meets SK
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003118565

A scene from episode 7: OH meets KH and SK again in Seoul
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003038579

A scene from episode 8: OH comes across with CJ in Baron Moon's house
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003334510

A scene from episode 9: CH meets Eun-Hee
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003169154

A scene from episode 10: SK comes across arrested OH
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003696452

A scene from episode 10: SK meets OH in the prison
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003062547

A scene from episode 16: CJ aims gun at KH
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003272291

A scene from episode 24: Why did you free Barron Moon?
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003099589

A scene from episode 24: KH and SK slaps each other
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003269270

A scene from episode 24: Farewell of OH and SK in a railroad station
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003068657

Capture images of episode 28:
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70003243040

A scene from episode 29: DW finds ill SK
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70006064902

A scene from episode 47: DW sees the engagement picture of DW and KH
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70005546695

A scene from episode 51: Massacre in the prison
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70005817103

A scene from episode 51: DW promoses HK to meet again on the bridge
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70005820926

A scene from episode 51: Explosion of the bridge
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70005820833

A scene from episode 53: People's trial (1)
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70006065376

A scene from episode 54: People's trial (2)
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70006383677

A scene from episode 54: People's trial (3)
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70006385127

A scene from episode 54: OH sees the engagement picture of DW and KH
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70006386442

Photos of episode 61
blog.naver.com/mindlle_07?Redirect=Log&logNo=20031331957

A scene from episode 66: A battle between ROK army and Chinese army
youtube.com/watch?v=riCTb8TsAUQ

A scene from episode 67: Farewell of JJ and SK
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70007850139

A scene from episode 67: DW and SK in the hospital
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo/70007852947

capture images of episode 68.
blog.naver.com/theblue25?Redirect=Log&logNo=40028285805

(Spoiler Warning!)A scene from episode 71: OH and DW
www.mncast.com/outSearch/mncPlayer.asp?movieID=10008586420061005232201&player=7

Photos of SEOUL 1945 set
blog.naver.com/ilsunjo?Redirect=Log&logNo=70008437129

More photos of SEOUL 1945 set
blog.naver.com/ssini98?Redirect=Log&logNo=60032018373

[CaptainVideo]

Thanks, Candylover. I was afraid to view your post until after the final episode had aired (which I didn't realize was going to be this week) but thanks for the nice links. It sounds as if you enjoyed the series as much as I did.


Edited about a half an hour later......

I have so little experience on which to base my opinion, but I thought this series was top notch. Okay, I have to admit to have had no prior knowledge of the events leading up to and including the Korean War up until watching this series and I didn't even think that these characters were biographical, I thought they were composites; I mean, Kehee and her family endured enough hardship for tens of families.

I'm sorry that the series was said to have contained so much misinformation to make it necessary for me to actually have to read something on the subject, although a pair of glasses might actually be looming on my horizon and that could change my entire outlook as it were; if my eyesite continues to decline, I will eventually need to hold things with my feet in order to get them in focus.
I found this show riveting enough that I haven't seen a new episode of The Simpsons since Seoul 1945 began airing at 7pm ish.

Seriously though, I am grateful to the producers of the series for at least exposing some basic facts which were previously unknown to me and definitely have given me a whole new and better understanding of my Korean friends. Gamsahamnida.

[teacher]

I cried for almost the whole hour. Historically correct or not, this was a beautiful story. It seems American war stories don't tell the human tragedies on both sides of a war. Also, where would you see an American story of 71 episodes with only 1 tender kiss in the last half hour of the show?
Sunday nights will not quite seem the same.
Do we know what will follow this show?

[kathleen34]

my dear teacher ... you stated it so well. It takes a lot to get me to cry watching something on TV... the final episode portrayed a great deal to prompt tears. And you're right ... 71 hours and only one tender kiss ... a good-bye kiss, literally. The childhood friendships carried thru their lives ... and loyalty held strong. I even came to have respect for My Lady.

This being a drama, not a documentary, we still learned a much by the insertion of actual historical photos/commentary. This was a beautiful blend of drama and real history. The writers, the casting, the music, ... was a splendid accumulation of talent. Each and every actor played a very convincing role. Loved the mothers.

You gave up The Simpsons. I gave up Desparate Housewives ... For 8 months we lifted our intellect considerably. I will miss this drama a great deal.

[dreamie]

Oh, I felt terrible that this was going to be the last time I saw all these great characters. And I honestly felt that the last five minutes of the show should have been five more episodes.

I enjoyed this program very much in spite of its flaws, it did a nice job of balancing drama with sweeping epic.

[gpaul]

I too will miss this wonderful show that was able to include history and drama in such a remarkable series. I learned so much about modern Korean history, not all of it fact, but what I really learned is how war can affect family, friends and a people in such an horrific manner. The acting was so good, you really believed the angst of these people.
On a much lighter note, I am currently watching a drama called 18 versus 29, a light comedy which stars our favorite gorgeous male, Oon Hyuk in a totally different type of role. I bought it just to see him and it was worth the price. I do hope that channel 41 will continue to show a drama on Sunday evening.

[zorro]

I feel like I've been to four funerals but no wedding.

I understand that many of you were more interested in the political and historical aspects of this drama, but I was swept up by the characters portrayed, especially Oon hyuk and Hae kyong.

All the suffering, heartaches and tribulations leading up to this last episode would have been bearable to me if only Oon hyuk could have lived to love Hae Kyong for the rest of their lives. Not that no one else deserved it, but these two especially should have had their chance.

I do realize Oon hyuk was constantly pushing his luck, (it was a little too unbelievable that in all the battles at close quarters he wasn't killed much sooner) but even to see him die a hero, saving his lifelong friend was still hard to accept, realizing what the impending consequences would be.

It was gut wrenching to see the last shot of Hae Kyong looking into the distance and waiting hopefully for the people she loved most to return to her someday. Knowing as the viewer that neither of her men would ever come back, leaving her doomed to a solitary life of grief and loneliness was so sad.

All that said, I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this epic from beginning to end. It'll be hard after watching every week since July to not see that opening screen and hear that drum roll…

[Lucy]

zorro said:

I do realize Oon hyuk was constantly pushing his luck ...but even to see him die a hero, saving his lifelong friend was still hard to accept, realizing what the impending consequences would be.

I don't think I follow you here, zorro. What consequences do you mean?

It was gut wrenching to see the last shot of Hae Kyong looking into the distance and waiting hopefully for the people she loved most to return to her someday. Knowing as the viewer that neither of her men would ever come back, leaving her doomed to a solitary life of grief and loneliness was so sad.

Yes, that was what did it for me, but mostly I was thinking of her mother, stuck on the other side of the border probably forever (unless she found a way to voluntarily repatriate, as the subtitles/voiceover suggested was possible, at least at one point). The poor mom lost ALL of her children except one during WWII and the civil war, just like Oon-hyuk's mom. I think Hae-kyong will survive without Oon-hyuk, though of course it's pretty much ruined her chance at happiness, but to be stranded alone in North Korea forever without her beloved mom, who needs at least one of her babies, is in a way worse, I think. I don't think HK loved Dong-woo in any sense that will continue to affect her, so I don't count him as one of "her men."

It was just SO SAD. I can't believe that after all that back-and-forth for years and years, everyone trying to stay alive, hiding the fugitives, trying to get north, get south, get on a boat--it came to this: two moms, with one child left, one of them an unwed mother because of having been raped and the other alone in her empty childhood village. The last scene where Hae-kyong went to the school and imagined OH there had me crying very hard.

I bet I could find a way to blame Suk-kyung for almost everything, by the way.

[dreamie]

lucy said:

I bet I could find a way to blame Suk-kyung for almost everything, by the way.

Haha. It's funny cause it's true.

On a side note, just where was Dong-Woo going, do you think? (Or did they mention and I missed it.)

[gpaul]

Lucy, I do blame Suk-kyung for everything from the very beginning when she asked Oon-hyuk to save her uncle and so many people died, her revenge for her father's death when he was a bad person himself, and finally when she turned in Hae-kyong when she was helping Oon-Hyuk escape, which turned Hae-Kyong into a criminal. Suk-Kyong and Park Chang-Ju were evil because everything they did was for their own benefit, except at the end when she saves Hae-Kyong. She looked truly miserable at the end, even more so than Hae-Kyong.

[zorro]

lucy said:

zorro said:

I do realize Oon hyuk was constantly pushing his luck ...but even to see him die a hero, saving his lifelong friend was still hard to accept, realizing what the impending consequences would be.

I don't think I follow you here, zorro. What consequences do you mean?

No "real" consequences, just the emotional ones in my mind for Hae Kyong who is unaware, and in for a shock if/when she ever finds out OH was killed. Plus I thought he told her he would bring her mother with him, so that's another.

The ending showed split screen and subtitling all at once, so it was a little hard to follow, but I thought I saw Hyang Geum with OH's family, so at least she wasn't all alone like HK.

DW seemed to be leaving for somewhere and SY was also in that scene. It wasn't clear if they were saying good bye or leaving together.

[Lucy]

It looked to me like Dong-woo was going somewhere, and Suk-kyung was trying to say something to him or maybe go with him, and he blew her off. Which is weird to me, because he never made a real break with her before. It was always that wimpy in-between thing that people do in K-dramas when they have plenty of reasons to hate each other. So why would he wait until that point--when he had already apparently let a whole bunch of her sins go unremarked and everything was overwith--to give her the cold shoulder? Huh.

I'm pretending to myself that Oon-hyuk didn't die. So there.

[Lucy]

gpaul said:

Lucy, I do blame Suk-kyung for everything from the very beginning when she asked Oon-hyuk to save her uncle and so many people died, her revenge for her father's death when he was a bad person himself, and finally when she turned in Hae-kyong when she was helping Oon-Hyuk escape, which turned Hae-Kyong into a criminal. Suk-Kyong and Park Chang-Ju were evil because everything they did was for their own benefit, except at the end when she saves Hae-Kyong. She looked truly miserable at the end, even more so than Hae-Kyong.

Yup, as soon as those little girls and their father died, Suk-kyung was dead to me. She was always crying to somebody to help her and then continuing to treat them with contempt thereafter. Ke-hee sometimes made me sick the way she stuck loyally to SK for the longest time. In a way it showed character, but did she also have to be so respectful, calling her "My lady"? Sheesh. Anyway, the fact that SK didn't spend the rest of her life conscious of those first deaths for which she was responsible, and trying to make it up to HK's and OH's families--PLUS the fact that she later rejected her uncle anyway--made me hate her so much. One thing, however, that I thought was interesting and sort of inspiring was how Lord Yi forgave her right away for betraying him at the trial like that. He understood that she was weak and needed to save herself, and that it was wartime and everyone's principles were apt to be compromised. (SK really didn't have any principles beyond saving her own hide, of course.)

[teacher]

The next time we have a gathering, if anyone should want to re-watch the final episode of Seoul 45, I'd be happy to bring the tape. (and also a box of tissues).

[CaptainVideo]

Hey Lucy,
I got to thinking about your comment about how all of the trouble can be traced back to Sukkyung and I believe you're absolutely right. I can vividly remember the incident, as children, when she knocked Oonhyuk's box of candy to the ground when she and Dongwoo were handing it out to the less fortunate. And wasn't it that incident which provoked Oonhyuk to "drown" her and "kidnap" her to that island? If it had not been for that incident in the water, he definitely would have had a much better lot in life and might never have become a Communist organizer.......maybe.