Post by ajk on Apr 18, 2011 12:30:36 GMT -5
CaptainVideo
Wang
« Thread Started on Mar 31, 2007, 1:13am »
Hey there,
In case you happened not to be watching Drama City tonight and popped in a tape for later viewing, you're going to be really bummed when you discover that your tape ended in the middle of a really cool story. Well, I happened to catch one of these last year (perhaps they're only produced once a year, because this one had top notch production values and probably wasn't cheap to make) and this one should not be missed!^^
So, I won't give away any of the plot here in case anyone is planning on trying to catch the rebroadcast on Sunday morning (9:45 ish; after a teenage serial which has Doekchill's husband as a high school teacher, and much more animated than his character on the Chill Sisters) but I would be interested to hear anyone else's opinion on this bizarre little tale. Have fun! ;D
By the way, compliments to Knov1 for providing this link in last year's thread concerning KBS HDTV Novel
P.S. The running time is about
[glow=red,2,300]1hr 45 minutes[/glow]so if you're planning on taping Sunday morning, I would suggest leaving 2hrs of room and I don't know if the start time will be adjusted or not.....I would think not
« Last Edit: Mar 31, 2007, 1:19am by CaptainVideo »
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gpaul
Addict Graduate
« Reply #1 on Mar 31, 2007, 8:11am »
Thank you Captain Video, I was going crazy this morning when I started watching and all of a sudden it stopped. I set my tape player until 12:20, but it wasn't long enough. I do hope it is repeated on Sunday, even though I do not know how I feel about what I have already seen. I was so confused through all of it. Too many characters and it seems to go back and forth between two story lines. What's with the Raccoon, I just don't get it. Tell me that I will understand it when I see the entire piece.
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #2 on Mar 31, 2007, 10:33am »
I absolutely loved this story. Not to give anything away (and especially since I never really played video games so I'm not completely sure) but I think that the "racoon" is "Sonic The Hedgehog"; I seem to have heard this character's name on a commercial years ago, but the game seemed to resemble "Donkey Kong", which was a game that was in bars in the 80's......
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #3 on Apr 1, 2007, 11:47am »
Aigu, aigu, aigu!!!!!!
It was nice to have the bathroom break during the commercial, but THE MOST IMPORTANT SCENE OF THE ENTIRE DRAMA WAS DELETED DURING THE COMMERCIAL BREAK!!!! Holy Cow, man................I remember hearing an interview with Larry Lujack (former "Superjock" discjockey on radio station WLS 890AM, Chicago) and he revealed that as "the man that played the hits to the city of big shoulders", he would invariably have the volume on the studio monitor off in order to not have to listen to the crappy music. I can't say for sure, but this seems to have been an audible called by the operator behind the board and since he/she had no familiarity with the story, didn't feel badly about lopping off a couple of minutes to get back on schedule during the commercial..... I'm so sorry to anyone that watched today's airing of the drama and was left bewildered, confused and angry for having wasted most of your morning watching this horrible show on my recommendation. 
What I will do for you, I have the tape from Friday all cued up to the missing scene and I will provide a precise copy of the dialogue after I go get some coffee, and if you need it, I may provide a full summary (this one would be very hard to condense, but I might be able to do it). At the very least, I would be interested to see if anyone else can add to the meaning of the powerful symbology of "station 23".
Again, I'm soooooooo sorry if you had an awful time watching this, but the missing scene was the key to it all.
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gpaul
Addict Graduate
« Reply #4 on Apr 1, 2007, 4:37pm »
I just finished watching my tape from this morning and was shocked that they cut out such an important scene. I did see that much of it on Friday evening, but I must tell you Captain Video this drama still left me confused and bewildered. Could you please give me your indepth insights to the meaning of it all. I realize thet the Racoon died, as did all of the people in the car crash, and the man who sold his soul to his boss for the job seemed to become the new racoon. I don't like to think too much, and this was too philosophical for me on a dreary Sunday.
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Anonymous
Guest
« Reply #5 on Apr 1, 2007, 4:45pm »
Does anyone know the name of the drama?
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #6 on Apr 1, 2007, 6:58pm »
So, Anonymous? Are you ashamed of being a fan of Drama City?^^ The beginning reads, ""Castella". This drama is based on the short stories, "Is it? Its' a Giraffe" and , "Thank You, You're Indeed a Raccoon" in the novel called Castella." The author was not cited......
Alright, I'll try and recreate this as best I can.....Now, if you recall, the character that's working as the intern at the insurance company that was being hit upon by the boss (name could have been Seung-il so, I'll call him "S") and the director, Director Ju are sitting out at some kind of a train platform after doing karaoke and much alcohol with the staff. Remember, "S" has just prevented Dir. Ju from committing suicide down in the subway station and now they are outiside on this bench, "S" sits and "J" is reclining on his side.
J: “Did I tell you about the raccoons?”
S: “The game?”
J: “No. Real raccoons. Real raccoons used to eat everything up in a farmer's storage room. Now they are eating up everything in large corporations. No, they are misunderstood as eating up everything. Raccoons are considered the enemies of corporations and human beings.”
S: “What are you trying to say?”
J: “But raccoons are very interesting. They are lazy and slow. But they enjoy living like that. People are strangely afraid of that joy. You……….”
At this point, “S” suddenly gets up and runs to the garbage can where he begins to throw up. “J” sits up and watches him. After he finishes vomiting, “S” collapses and passes out on the pavement. “J” then gets up and walks over to comfort his fallen comrade. He kneels down, brushes “S’s” hair back and notices the now fully exposed red bandanna on the young man’s wrist. After studying it for a few moments, he gently removes it and places it in “S’s” jacket pocket. After this, “J” begins walking away down the platform at which point “S” groggily opens his eyes in time to see “J” effortlessly floating upwards and landing on a box girder structure running parallel to the platform , but falls back asleep.
Some time later, we find “S” passed out on the floor of a walkway down in the subway. As he begins to stir, a voice from a bum sitting across the way calls out to “S”.
Bum: “Are you alright?”
S: “Uhhhhh……..yes.”
B: “I envy young people. You’re fine after drinking like that. Oh. I’m sure you still have your wallet. Check for it. (He does). Don’t worry. We don’t steal from a person who’s come with a raccoon.”
S: “A raccoon?”
B: “You didn’t know? (He gets up and begins walking over to “S”.) The one who brought you here was a raccoon”
S: “Oh, I see. He must’ve rambled on about something.” The man is now seated behind him as “S” turns around and says, “Where did he go?”
B: “The raccoon? Since he’s a raccoon, I’m sure he went underground. Well, he’s a human raccoon. He might’ve gone heaven.”
S: “Well, he’s actually human”
B: “I know, but he’s almost a raccoon now. He should leave this world now.”
S: “Thanks you sir. I’ll get going now.” He gets up and begins walking away, but the Bum continues to speak.
B: “Do you know why he became a raccoon? “S” now stops and turns to listen to the man. “You may think he isn’t accepted by society, but you’re wrong. The world is very different from what you think. “Stage 23”, that’s the actual name of this world. There are two types of people in this world. Those who can beat Stage 23 and those who can’t. I’m sure he pities all of you. He just started to see the truth all of a sudden. You’re fools who try so hard to climb a wall you can’t climb.” (The scene momentarily flashes the image of Director Ju standing on top of the abandoned factory). “It’s not that he wasn’t accepted by society. He was sabotaging it.” The man smiles at “S” as “S” is looking away. At that moment, “S” brings his gaze down toward the sitting man, then becomes very focused on his wrist which he brings up toward his face and discovers that it is no longer adorned by the “red bandanna”.
Later on, "S" walks into the office to find Director Ju's desk vacant and his colleague informs him that he's A.W.O.L. and the sleazy boss gives him the position of director.
So, there you have it. What does it mean? I'm guessing that all of this was a metaphor for escaping this world and reaching Heaven, Nirvana, whatever you choose to call it. You have to endure the hardships in this life in order to pass to the next stage but you can't force your way through, you have to learn to float effortlessly (or die)........ Then, at the end, you find that the earthly process continues on, only the people filling the roles have changed. Very freaky story, but I loved it.
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Elaine
Junior Addict
« Reply #7 on Apr 2, 2007, 12:41pm »
I taped the show Friday night and also Sunday morning.
In each case, I missed the ending scenes.Could someone
please tell me what happened after the scene with S and
the bum in the subway?
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #8 on Apr 3, 2007, 9:47am »
So, am I to assume that you taped on Sunday prior to reading this thread? Well, the scene with "S" and the Bum happens at about the 1 hour mark, you still need a third of the show...... I will try to get you the rest of the story in about the next day or so if you can wait that long; if not, perhaps gpaul might want to fill you in on the details.....
Basically, many of the things that you had previously scene get replayed from different perspectives and if you read gpaul's and my comments, you'll read the bare bones ending. Sorry I don't have time right now to do a better job, but if you wish, I will provide a more in depth summary.
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Elaine
Junior Addict
« Reply #9 on Apr 3, 2007, 11:59am »
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Thanks Captain Video. Yes, I would really appreciate an in depth summary when you have the time.
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #10 on Apr 10, 2007, 5:37pm »
Alright, so when I said that I’d get this summary to you in a day, I was speaking in Biblical terms. Sorry about that, but at last, you will have the opportunity to be as baffled as the rest of us (although I think I’m on to something here with the symbolism).
By the way, I should probably make a big correction at the outset to avoid further confusion of any character’s identity. “S” is actually a guy named PARK Hyeonwoo and the abbreviation “S” should properly be assigned to the character named, KIM Sung Il; you’ll appreciate that later….
So, without further delay, the next scene is down in the crowded subway station during morning rush hour. While Sung Il is at his job waiting to push people onto the train (in case anyone is baffled by these scenes, this is a service provided by the rail system to forcibly cram people onto their trains because people are either too polite or too weak to push themselves like linebackers in order to secure a spot on the train) he sees his father waiting on the same platform awaiting the train’s arrival.. After the train pulls up and opens its doors, the orange vested “pushers” begin herding the commuters. As his area is cleared, a colleague calls to him for assistance at the door where his father is boarding. During the ordeal, Sung Il flashes back on his father being berated by his boss, as well as a flashback to the abuse he received from his own boss at the convenience store. He finally succeeds in getting his dad in the car and they have a longing look before the train pulls away leaving Sung Il looking very dejected.
Meanwhile, Hyeonwoo comes to work and sees that Dir. Ju’s desk is vacant and begins to ask one of his co-workers about it when the boss comes out and announces that Dir. Ju has quit. Furthermore, someone needs to pick up the workload and he delegates the work to Hyeonwoo after ordering him to reformat the computer and get rid of the video games. As he calls up the file and is asked whether he would like to delete the file or not, he decides to play a round of the “raccoon” game. When the game finishes, the computer screen goes black to reveal the reflection of Dir. Ju’s face…….
We then find Hyeonwoo and his boss sitting at a bar having a drink as his boss is offering him a full time job after his internship ends. “H” likes the idea of the job, but the boss explains that the “hiring process” is all part of growing up and that everybody must make sacrifices in life in order to attain their goals.
Remember that friend of Sung Il’s that got him his wages when the convenience store owner balked at paying him his wages? Well, now he’s driving people around as a temporary driver (in case you’ve had too much to drink, you can call this service to drive you and your car to a destination). On this job, he’s driving a middle aged woman on her way to watch the NYE ball drop together and during the conversation, she gets him to practice his little “spiel” in which he will profess his undying love to that mysterious Chinese girl from the subway (Miyeong). At the same time Miyeong is riding in a van with the other “escorts”, traveling in the opposite direction as the car with Sung-Il’s friend and the woman.
Hyeonwoo is now inside of a locker room removing his clothes and then enters a shower. As he finishes washing, the boss comes up from behind, embracing him and placing his head on Hyeonwoo’s shoulder.
As the fireworks begin to explode overhead, everyone in both vehicles becomes momentarily distracted which leads to the van drifting a bit. At the last moment, Miyeong seems to recognize the other driver as he vainly steers his vehicle to the right, but unable to avoid a head-on collision with the van. As the two vehicles sit motionless, almost as one structure now that their respective front ends are collapsed on each other, there is no sound, save for the fireworks and the blinking lights and leaking fluids of the wrecked vehicles.
The scene cuts back to Hyewoo, who is now alone in the shower and trying to cleanse himself when he hears some footsteps and the water suddenly shuts off. We then see him standing in front of a foggy mirror above a sink and as he clears a small circular patch with his right hand to reveal his face, we also see that Dir. Ju is standing several feet behind him looking very sad and empathetic. The next shot was rather dark and very far away, but it looks as if Hyeonwoo is getting his back scrubbed by a professional and NOT by the boss. In other words, in case you’re not familiar with the practice, professional scrubbers are employed at the public bath houses and this is in no way connected to the previous scene.
A little while later, Hyeonwoo is at the accident scene giving the details to the boss about the Chinese girl being insured by their company (remember the lunch when she asked Dir. Ju and Hyeonwoo how soon she could get paid on a life insurance policy?) The boss is not happy but agrees to make the payout on the policy “to an undeserving person”………whatever that means, unless it was lost in translation. There was also some mention as to why “H” was so long in getting to the scene and the boss comments, “Oh, you must have been in the shower”.
One month later, Sueng Il is at the police station reporting his father missing, which is the first process to declaring him dead so that an estate may be settled (I guess you have to wait a month before declaring a person missing, and their identification number needs to be officially cancelled to declare them deceased). I’m not sure why this occurs, but he leaves the police station and goes to a shipping/post office and asks the clerk to help him address something to his father at an address in China. In the next scene, he is wheeling his mother out of her room in a wheel chair and exits the hospital. As they pass the nurse’s desk, the camera pans to the right and we see the father standing and watching the scene. As they continue out, he begins walking down the hallway from where they previously emanated and continues toward a bright, enveloping “light at the end of the tunnel/hallway”.
Down in the subway, Sueng Il scolds a female co-worker for not being aggressive enough with the passengers after he has to push her away and finish “packing” a load of commuters. After the incident, he sits alone on a bench and pulls out some official looking document. He has a flash of a meeting with his mother(?) when she tells him that they need for the number to be cancelled before he can collect. He thinks to himself, “Those were my father’s and my calculations”, places the paper on the bench and looks off in the distance just as a loud horn blasts once and the shot freezes on his face.
There are many shots of subway trains running through the various tunnels and passing by stations at high rates of speed. At one station, the train is stopped and we enter the car to see a young man in a suit suddenly bolt up out of his seat and quickly leave the train, but he has left his name badge behind which reads, “JIS (company) KIM Sueng Il. As he is hastily running up the gleaming chromed escalators which lead to the light of the working world, we soon see Dir Ju traveling down another escalator and followed closely by Sueng Il’s friend from the car accident. When he reaches the bottom, Miyeong comes running up from behind and they join arms as they walk over to the train platform. As they are standing there, they notice Dir. Ju on an adjacent platform looking at them and smiling. He then strikes a kind of a “ballerina” pose against the support beam and the couple begins to laugh. When he resumes a normal posture, he smiles at the couple and waves while they return the gesture.
Back in the insurance company, Hyeonwoo is finishing up a game of “raccoon” on his computer, commenting on how beautiful the characters look as Sueng Il looks on from over “H’s” left shoulder. After asking Sueng Il if he’d like to try playing a game, a superior comes by to alert Sueng Il of a meeting which is about to begin and he should be attending. At this moment, Hyeonwoo repeats the soliloquy of Dir. Ju’s from the beginning of the show about, "how he is a director, yet they never invite him to the meetings." Sueng Il then gets up to walk to the meeting and in his mind, he is declaring,”how he is the lead singer for a rock band named, Sam’s Son", while the real version of Jimi Hendrix’s Crosstown Traffic plays in the background and the walls morph in this beautiful psychedelic explosion of colors , patterns and shapes not of the corporate world.
Sorry it took so long, and I didn’t really proof read or edit…..expcept right on the spot so, if I am not clear or misspelled anything that “Word” didn’t catch, my humble apologies. CV Okay, I corrected a couple of things just now in the last couple of paragraphs, but if it really doesn't make sense, let me kn0w ;D
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END OF RECOVERED THREAD – COMPLETE
Original views: 499
Archive date: March 6, 2011
Wang
« Thread Started on Mar 31, 2007, 1:13am »
Hey there,
In case you happened not to be watching Drama City tonight and popped in a tape for later viewing, you're going to be really bummed when you discover that your tape ended in the middle of a really cool story. Well, I happened to catch one of these last year (perhaps they're only produced once a year, because this one had top notch production values and probably wasn't cheap to make) and this one should not be missed!^^
So, I won't give away any of the plot here in case anyone is planning on trying to catch the rebroadcast on Sunday morning (9:45 ish; after a teenage serial which has Doekchill's husband as a high school teacher, and much more animated than his character on the Chill Sisters) but I would be interested to hear anyone else's opinion on this bizarre little tale. Have fun! ;D
By the way, compliments to Knov1 for providing this link in last year's thread concerning KBS HDTV Novel
P.S. The running time is about
[glow=red,2,300]1hr 45 minutes[/glow]so if you're planning on taping Sunday morning, I would suggest leaving 2hrs of room and I don't know if the start time will be adjusted or not.....I would think not
« Last Edit: Mar 31, 2007, 1:19am by CaptainVideo »
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gpaul
Addict Graduate
« Reply #1 on Mar 31, 2007, 8:11am »
Thank you Captain Video, I was going crazy this morning when I started watching and all of a sudden it stopped. I set my tape player until 12:20, but it wasn't long enough. I do hope it is repeated on Sunday, even though I do not know how I feel about what I have already seen. I was so confused through all of it. Too many characters and it seems to go back and forth between two story lines. What's with the Raccoon, I just don't get it. Tell me that I will understand it when I see the entire piece.
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #2 on Mar 31, 2007, 10:33am »
I absolutely loved this story. Not to give anything away (and especially since I never really played video games so I'm not completely sure) but I think that the "racoon" is "Sonic The Hedgehog"; I seem to have heard this character's name on a commercial years ago, but the game seemed to resemble "Donkey Kong", which was a game that was in bars in the 80's......
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #3 on Apr 1, 2007, 11:47am »
Aigu, aigu, aigu!!!!!!
It was nice to have the bathroom break during the commercial, but THE MOST IMPORTANT SCENE OF THE ENTIRE DRAMA WAS DELETED DURING THE COMMERCIAL BREAK!!!! Holy Cow, man................I remember hearing an interview with Larry Lujack (former "Superjock" discjockey on radio station WLS 890AM, Chicago) and he revealed that as "the man that played the hits to the city of big shoulders", he would invariably have the volume on the studio monitor off in order to not have to listen to the crappy music. I can't say for sure, but this seems to have been an audible called by the operator behind the board and since he/she had no familiarity with the story, didn't feel badly about lopping off a couple of minutes to get back on schedule during the commercial..... I'm so sorry to anyone that watched today's airing of the drama and was left bewildered, confused and angry for having wasted most of your morning watching this horrible show on my recommendation. 
What I will do for you, I have the tape from Friday all cued up to the missing scene and I will provide a precise copy of the dialogue after I go get some coffee, and if you need it, I may provide a full summary (this one would be very hard to condense, but I might be able to do it). At the very least, I would be interested to see if anyone else can add to the meaning of the powerful symbology of "station 23".
Again, I'm soooooooo sorry if you had an awful time watching this, but the missing scene was the key to it all.
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gpaul
Addict Graduate
« Reply #4 on Apr 1, 2007, 4:37pm »
I just finished watching my tape from this morning and was shocked that they cut out such an important scene. I did see that much of it on Friday evening, but I must tell you Captain Video this drama still left me confused and bewildered. Could you please give me your indepth insights to the meaning of it all. I realize thet the Racoon died, as did all of the people in the car crash, and the man who sold his soul to his boss for the job seemed to become the new racoon. I don't like to think too much, and this was too philosophical for me on a dreary Sunday.
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Anonymous
Guest
« Reply #5 on Apr 1, 2007, 4:45pm »
Does anyone know the name of the drama?
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #6 on Apr 1, 2007, 6:58pm »
So, Anonymous? Are you ashamed of being a fan of Drama City?^^ The beginning reads, ""Castella". This drama is based on the short stories, "Is it? Its' a Giraffe" and , "Thank You, You're Indeed a Raccoon" in the novel called Castella." The author was not cited......
Alright, I'll try and recreate this as best I can.....Now, if you recall, the character that's working as the intern at the insurance company that was being hit upon by the boss (name could have been Seung-il so, I'll call him "S") and the director, Director Ju are sitting out at some kind of a train platform after doing karaoke and much alcohol with the staff. Remember, "S" has just prevented Dir. Ju from committing suicide down in the subway station and now they are outiside on this bench, "S" sits and "J" is reclining on his side.
J: “Did I tell you about the raccoons?”
S: “The game?”
J: “No. Real raccoons. Real raccoons used to eat everything up in a farmer's storage room. Now they are eating up everything in large corporations. No, they are misunderstood as eating up everything. Raccoons are considered the enemies of corporations and human beings.”
S: “What are you trying to say?”
J: “But raccoons are very interesting. They are lazy and slow. But they enjoy living like that. People are strangely afraid of that joy. You……….”
At this point, “S” suddenly gets up and runs to the garbage can where he begins to throw up. “J” sits up and watches him. After he finishes vomiting, “S” collapses and passes out on the pavement. “J” then gets up and walks over to comfort his fallen comrade. He kneels down, brushes “S’s” hair back and notices the now fully exposed red bandanna on the young man’s wrist. After studying it for a few moments, he gently removes it and places it in “S’s” jacket pocket. After this, “J” begins walking away down the platform at which point “S” groggily opens his eyes in time to see “J” effortlessly floating upwards and landing on a box girder structure running parallel to the platform , but falls back asleep.
Some time later, we find “S” passed out on the floor of a walkway down in the subway. As he begins to stir, a voice from a bum sitting across the way calls out to “S”.
Bum: “Are you alright?”
S: “Uhhhhh……..yes.”
B: “I envy young people. You’re fine after drinking like that. Oh. I’m sure you still have your wallet. Check for it. (He does). Don’t worry. We don’t steal from a person who’s come with a raccoon.”
S: “A raccoon?”
B: “You didn’t know? (He gets up and begins walking over to “S”.) The one who brought you here was a raccoon”
S: “Oh, I see. He must’ve rambled on about something.” The man is now seated behind him as “S” turns around and says, “Where did he go?”
B: “The raccoon? Since he’s a raccoon, I’m sure he went underground. Well, he’s a human raccoon. He might’ve gone heaven.”
S: “Well, he’s actually human”
B: “I know, but he’s almost a raccoon now. He should leave this world now.”
S: “Thanks you sir. I’ll get going now.” He gets up and begins walking away, but the Bum continues to speak.
B: “Do you know why he became a raccoon? “S” now stops and turns to listen to the man. “You may think he isn’t accepted by society, but you’re wrong. The world is very different from what you think. “Stage 23”, that’s the actual name of this world. There are two types of people in this world. Those who can beat Stage 23 and those who can’t. I’m sure he pities all of you. He just started to see the truth all of a sudden. You’re fools who try so hard to climb a wall you can’t climb.” (The scene momentarily flashes the image of Director Ju standing on top of the abandoned factory). “It’s not that he wasn’t accepted by society. He was sabotaging it.” The man smiles at “S” as “S” is looking away. At that moment, “S” brings his gaze down toward the sitting man, then becomes very focused on his wrist which he brings up toward his face and discovers that it is no longer adorned by the “red bandanna”.
Later on, "S" walks into the office to find Director Ju's desk vacant and his colleague informs him that he's A.W.O.L. and the sleazy boss gives him the position of director.
So, there you have it. What does it mean? I'm guessing that all of this was a metaphor for escaping this world and reaching Heaven, Nirvana, whatever you choose to call it. You have to endure the hardships in this life in order to pass to the next stage but you can't force your way through, you have to learn to float effortlessly (or die)........ Then, at the end, you find that the earthly process continues on, only the people filling the roles have changed. Very freaky story, but I loved it.
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Elaine
Junior Addict
« Reply #7 on Apr 2, 2007, 12:41pm »
I taped the show Friday night and also Sunday morning.
In each case, I missed the ending scenes.Could someone
please tell me what happened after the scene with S and
the bum in the subway?
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #8 on Apr 3, 2007, 9:47am »
So, am I to assume that you taped on Sunday prior to reading this thread? Well, the scene with "S" and the Bum happens at about the 1 hour mark, you still need a third of the show...... I will try to get you the rest of the story in about the next day or so if you can wait that long; if not, perhaps gpaul might want to fill you in on the details.....
Basically, many of the things that you had previously scene get replayed from different perspectives and if you read gpaul's and my comments, you'll read the bare bones ending. Sorry I don't have time right now to do a better job, but if you wish, I will provide a more in depth summary.
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Elaine
Junior Addict
« Reply #9 on Apr 3, 2007, 11:59am »
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Thanks Captain Video. Yes, I would really appreciate an in depth summary when you have the time.
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CaptainVideo
Wang
« Reply #10 on Apr 10, 2007, 5:37pm »
Alright, so when I said that I’d get this summary to you in a day, I was speaking in Biblical terms. Sorry about that, but at last, you will have the opportunity to be as baffled as the rest of us (although I think I’m on to something here with the symbolism).
By the way, I should probably make a big correction at the outset to avoid further confusion of any character’s identity. “S” is actually a guy named PARK Hyeonwoo and the abbreviation “S” should properly be assigned to the character named, KIM Sung Il; you’ll appreciate that later….
So, without further delay, the next scene is down in the crowded subway station during morning rush hour. While Sung Il is at his job waiting to push people onto the train (in case anyone is baffled by these scenes, this is a service provided by the rail system to forcibly cram people onto their trains because people are either too polite or too weak to push themselves like linebackers in order to secure a spot on the train) he sees his father waiting on the same platform awaiting the train’s arrival.. After the train pulls up and opens its doors, the orange vested “pushers” begin herding the commuters. As his area is cleared, a colleague calls to him for assistance at the door where his father is boarding. During the ordeal, Sung Il flashes back on his father being berated by his boss, as well as a flashback to the abuse he received from his own boss at the convenience store. He finally succeeds in getting his dad in the car and they have a longing look before the train pulls away leaving Sung Il looking very dejected.
Meanwhile, Hyeonwoo comes to work and sees that Dir. Ju’s desk is vacant and begins to ask one of his co-workers about it when the boss comes out and announces that Dir. Ju has quit. Furthermore, someone needs to pick up the workload and he delegates the work to Hyeonwoo after ordering him to reformat the computer and get rid of the video games. As he calls up the file and is asked whether he would like to delete the file or not, he decides to play a round of the “raccoon” game. When the game finishes, the computer screen goes black to reveal the reflection of Dir. Ju’s face…….
We then find Hyeonwoo and his boss sitting at a bar having a drink as his boss is offering him a full time job after his internship ends. “H” likes the idea of the job, but the boss explains that the “hiring process” is all part of growing up and that everybody must make sacrifices in life in order to attain their goals.
Remember that friend of Sung Il’s that got him his wages when the convenience store owner balked at paying him his wages? Well, now he’s driving people around as a temporary driver (in case you’ve had too much to drink, you can call this service to drive you and your car to a destination). On this job, he’s driving a middle aged woman on her way to watch the NYE ball drop together and during the conversation, she gets him to practice his little “spiel” in which he will profess his undying love to that mysterious Chinese girl from the subway (Miyeong). At the same time Miyeong is riding in a van with the other “escorts”, traveling in the opposite direction as the car with Sung-Il’s friend and the woman.
Hyeonwoo is now inside of a locker room removing his clothes and then enters a shower. As he finishes washing, the boss comes up from behind, embracing him and placing his head on Hyeonwoo’s shoulder.
As the fireworks begin to explode overhead, everyone in both vehicles becomes momentarily distracted which leads to the van drifting a bit. At the last moment, Miyeong seems to recognize the other driver as he vainly steers his vehicle to the right, but unable to avoid a head-on collision with the van. As the two vehicles sit motionless, almost as one structure now that their respective front ends are collapsed on each other, there is no sound, save for the fireworks and the blinking lights and leaking fluids of the wrecked vehicles.
The scene cuts back to Hyewoo, who is now alone in the shower and trying to cleanse himself when he hears some footsteps and the water suddenly shuts off. We then see him standing in front of a foggy mirror above a sink and as he clears a small circular patch with his right hand to reveal his face, we also see that Dir. Ju is standing several feet behind him looking very sad and empathetic. The next shot was rather dark and very far away, but it looks as if Hyeonwoo is getting his back scrubbed by a professional and NOT by the boss. In other words, in case you’re not familiar with the practice, professional scrubbers are employed at the public bath houses and this is in no way connected to the previous scene.
A little while later, Hyeonwoo is at the accident scene giving the details to the boss about the Chinese girl being insured by their company (remember the lunch when she asked Dir. Ju and Hyeonwoo how soon she could get paid on a life insurance policy?) The boss is not happy but agrees to make the payout on the policy “to an undeserving person”………whatever that means, unless it was lost in translation. There was also some mention as to why “H” was so long in getting to the scene and the boss comments, “Oh, you must have been in the shower”.
One month later, Sueng Il is at the police station reporting his father missing, which is the first process to declaring him dead so that an estate may be settled (I guess you have to wait a month before declaring a person missing, and their identification number needs to be officially cancelled to declare them deceased). I’m not sure why this occurs, but he leaves the police station and goes to a shipping/post office and asks the clerk to help him address something to his father at an address in China. In the next scene, he is wheeling his mother out of her room in a wheel chair and exits the hospital. As they pass the nurse’s desk, the camera pans to the right and we see the father standing and watching the scene. As they continue out, he begins walking down the hallway from where they previously emanated and continues toward a bright, enveloping “light at the end of the tunnel/hallway”.
Down in the subway, Sueng Il scolds a female co-worker for not being aggressive enough with the passengers after he has to push her away and finish “packing” a load of commuters. After the incident, he sits alone on a bench and pulls out some official looking document. He has a flash of a meeting with his mother(?) when she tells him that they need for the number to be cancelled before he can collect. He thinks to himself, “Those were my father’s and my calculations”, places the paper on the bench and looks off in the distance just as a loud horn blasts once and the shot freezes on his face.
There are many shots of subway trains running through the various tunnels and passing by stations at high rates of speed. At one station, the train is stopped and we enter the car to see a young man in a suit suddenly bolt up out of his seat and quickly leave the train, but he has left his name badge behind which reads, “JIS (company) KIM Sueng Il. As he is hastily running up the gleaming chromed escalators which lead to the light of the working world, we soon see Dir Ju traveling down another escalator and followed closely by Sueng Il’s friend from the car accident. When he reaches the bottom, Miyeong comes running up from behind and they join arms as they walk over to the train platform. As they are standing there, they notice Dir. Ju on an adjacent platform looking at them and smiling. He then strikes a kind of a “ballerina” pose against the support beam and the couple begins to laugh. When he resumes a normal posture, he smiles at the couple and waves while they return the gesture.
Back in the insurance company, Hyeonwoo is finishing up a game of “raccoon” on his computer, commenting on how beautiful the characters look as Sueng Il looks on from over “H’s” left shoulder. After asking Sueng Il if he’d like to try playing a game, a superior comes by to alert Sueng Il of a meeting which is about to begin and he should be attending. At this moment, Hyeonwoo repeats the soliloquy of Dir. Ju’s from the beginning of the show about, "how he is a director, yet they never invite him to the meetings." Sueng Il then gets up to walk to the meeting and in his mind, he is declaring,”how he is the lead singer for a rock band named, Sam’s Son", while the real version of Jimi Hendrix’s Crosstown Traffic plays in the background and the walls morph in this beautiful psychedelic explosion of colors , patterns and shapes not of the corporate world.
Sorry it took so long, and I didn’t really proof read or edit…..expcept right on the spot so, if I am not clear or misspelled anything that “Word” didn’t catch, my humble apologies. CV Okay, I corrected a couple of things just now in the last couple of paragraphs, but if it really doesn't make sense, let me kn0w ;D
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END OF RECOVERED THREAD – COMPLETE
Original views: 499
Archive date: March 6, 2011