That poll

[Soju]

When Michael Han made me admistrator, I sure hoped I'd never have to use the power. However, the recent poll posted from LA about whether or not we approved of something we here in Chicago have not yet seen is not acceptable.

I hope that all members and guests will keep in mind where WOCH is in the time-line and post any spoilers with appropriate labeling. Those who can't play nice will be asked to leave the sandbox.

[galacticchick]

Now would be a good time to re-insert that infamous poll.

This might be a spoiler if you are behind ep. 125 (or is it 126?)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

The question on the poll was:
*
*
*
Was it right of YJ to register Ji-min as his biological son? (it's actually supposed to take place in today's episode, but still we know that he is going to do it from the previews)

I have mixed feelings. I suppose that since I've lived in the U.S. all my life, my views are totally different from those living and having to deal with the reality of S. Korea. But I don't see the horrible-ness of having Ji-min have a different last name than YJ. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. Yes, people will know that it's not his biological child and all, but so what?

If JY wants to wait until there are no more problems in order to marry YJ, she is going to end up dead, and still not be able to marry him!

[JadeEyes]

I want to respond to several points here:

About YJ's actions: I guess I understand his motivation, but this is supposed to be a very bright guy who's an ace at planning. If not, he wouldn't be where he is today (president of World Capital). So what's the game plan here? This looks like a super dead-end strategy to me. His lawyer has already explained that as soon as the biological father wishes to assert his right to get him under his own family registry and can prove it's his son (which I suppose he could do w/ a court-ordered paternity test), the name would be changed to the biological father's.

So what's the plan? YJ must realize SM will find out what YJ has done as soon as he tries to file his own paperwork. Then what? It seems to me a very foolish and useless strategy, destined for certain failure, w/ a high risk of legal penalty if he's caught-- which is almost certain to happen. Unless he has some really great ace up his sleeve we haven't heard about, I don't see how this is going to help anyone.

The thing w/ the name strikes me as particularly odd, too. You have to pick your battles in life--you can't always get every thing you want. There were things JY could've done to prevent against SM finding out JM was his bio. kid, i.e., defy Grandma Sohn and marry YJ 4 yrs ago, emigrate to the US, either with or w/o YJ, even move someplace else in Korea, much farther away from Seoul. She didn't want to do any of those things. Therefore, she's stuck w/ the situation she has now and should find a way to make the best of it. So SM files the papers. Big deal. So the law recognizes the child as Lee, not Yoon or Jung. I can think of many worse fates. And how is this law policed? What's to stop JY from continuing to call JM a Yoon and registering him in school as Yoon JM, etc. Let him decide when he's an adult what family name he wants to use. Save your energy for bigger battles.

If JM was suddenly stricken w/ a terrible illness, or hit by a car and his life hung in the balance...if it looked like he might die, or survive horribly incapacitated...and then someone came to her and said, "Your son will be perfectly fine and will go on to live a full and productive life, but his family name will have to be Lee" she would be ecstatic for that compromise. And how many people get in that situation and they don't get the chance for a compromise...they just get stuck w/ some tragic consequence out of their control?

I couldn't believe last night when JY said they can't get married now and must wait for the law to change before they can marry. I nearly screamed. First, they couldn't get married while Grandma Sohn disapproved and had to wait however long, months, years, decades, for her to approve. Now, GS gives her blessing and all of a sudden she says they must now wait for the law to change. I mean this is beyond ridiculous. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's commitment-phobic and is clutching at any excuse to avoid marriage. How dare she ask YJ to "wait" for her...he's supposed to sacrifice his life waiting for her to decide the time is right to make a life together?

Not only that, but SM might file the papers anyway, regardless of whether JY stays single or not. It's pointless to think holding off on marriage indefinitely will prevent SM from doing what he's going to do. Her whole mindset all along has been bizarre--she doesn't want to believe something could happen, so she tells herself it can't, like an ostrich w/ its head in the sand thinking because it can't see danger, there can't be any danger. Then she's shocked and horrified when things happen to her that go against what she wants.

There are a lot of things in life that just plain bite. Get used to it. The important thing is you have your son and you can have the man you love. Deal w/ the rest of it and quit looking for tragedy where there isn't any.

Jade

[Soju]

Since Sang-min filed his form at an office where his registry is not on file, it will take several days to go through, whereas Young-joon's seems like it'll only take a day. Sang-min will then find out that his registration was blocked, because of an existing one.

Even though that one is fraudulent, Sang-min has been saying that his sole reason for registering Ji-min as his son is to keep Ji-min from being illegitimate. With Ji-min registered as Youn-joon's son, Ji-min becomes legally legitimate, unless Sang-min contests it.

This would jeapordize his marriage, since Min-joo has made it clear she will divorce him if he registers Ji-min. Would he still be able to work for Sierra Park, then? If Min-joo didn't fire him outright, she would make his career there a living Hell.

And since Ja-young would still be able to have custody, what would he have gained, except for the respect of his father (and what do we all think THAT'S worth?).

I think Young-joon knows that Sang-min will be between a rock and a hard place, and that's why he filed the registration, even though he knows it's perjury.

[petirrojo]

Now that's a very astute analysis, Soju! If all SM cares about is that JM isn't labeled illegitimate, than a fraudelent registry should be no real problem as it would make 4 people very happy (JY, YJ, JM, and MJ) and 2 people unhappy (he and his butt-insky father).

Somehow, though, I don't see him as the sacrificing type.

[mikey]

Young-joon is usually a pretty level-headed guy, except when it comes to anything relating to Ja-young. Then he gets all mushy and irrational – true love I guess! But I can see at least one (somewhat) rational explanation for his wanting to register Ji-min as his own son (aside from the “not being a bastard” issue that WK keeps raising).

I think this could have acted something like an early-warning system: If Sang-min kept his word and did not try to register Ji-min as his son, then Sang-min might never know that he’d done it anyway. And, if Sang-min did go against his word and secretly try to register Ji-min as his son, Young-joon would have the assurance that Sang-min’s application would be rejected – and he would also immediately know of Sang-min’s betrayal, and he would have at least a few months to try something – anything – to counter Sang-min’s certain lawsuit.

Of course, Sang-min's interest in Ji-min was becoming somewhat obsessive, so he might have found out about Young-joon's move sooner or later anyway, but I think that young-joon was betting on the chance that the laws might be changed, and he figured that every extra minute he could buy might work in his favor. Of course, this was pretty much wishful thinking on Young-joon’s part, but sometimes when you’re desperate, anything’s worth trying, right?

[JadeEyes]

You make some good points, mikey...some things I had not thought about.

One thing I think might be on YJ's mind is that if SM tries to file the papers and finds out YJ beat him to it, SM will have to decide if he wants to push the matter all the way to a court room, which has to be the next step...or will he drop it? Maybe YJ is banking on SM not having the nerve or the wherewithal to pursue the paternity issue as far as the courtroom. Bad publicity for SPR and the Jo family...both of which would be a major can of worms all over the place for SM. YJ is probably thinking SM will balk if it comes to going that far. And the man is normally such a moral coward, I would think it would be enough to scare him back. OTOH, I think he's getting more emotionally involved w/ the idea of having a bio. child than he's willing to admit...he's now saying it's all about doing the "right thing" by JM by not letting him grow up a bastard. But I have the feeling it's a lot more than that. It seems obvious to me he's developing an attachment, try as he might to fight it.

It's strange, but I think having a son might be the one thing that could catapault SM into finding "courage" and momentum to go against MJ and everything she holds for him. I put the word courage inside quotations marks because it's not the kind of courage that puts one on high ground. It's not as if he's doing something for JM that the child truly needs. For instance, if JM was seriously ill and needed an organ transplant and it turned out SM was the only relative w/ a good match....for whatever reason MJ opposed him donating and threatened him w/ divorce, but he did it anyway to save JM's life. That to me would be an example of real moral courage. In this case, however, he's rebelling against his wife's iron-fist rule for something that can only hurt people he's already hurt badly before...JY, her family, YJ. He's not helping JM in any important way. JY is right when she tells SM she can handle teaching JM not to be burdened by the so-called shame of his illegitimacy (from a scene shown this morning that wasn't in yesterday's ep.) Saving the child from being branded a bastard is just not important enough to merit SM finding this kind of "courage".
Not in my view, anyway.

Also, about YJ filing as a kind of alert system in the event SM files the paternity papers, that all depends on whether the mother is notified or not. I would think she would have to be notified so that she would know she's required to give the father's family name as the child's from then on. But if the mother isn't notified pro-forma, then possibly it would work that way. But if the name change thing is that nearly invisible, then what's the big deal? Why is JY getting this worked up about something she wouldn't even know about necessarily?

I'm still unclear as to what YJ hopes to achieve by this. Perhaps it will be explained in this evening's ep. What I wonder is if JY will be pleasantly surprised by YJ's news. Something tells me no. This might not be one of YJ's "special surprises" that makes JY beam w/ joy and shed tears of happiness.

I guess we'll see.

Jade

[Jean]

I missed two nights on September 10th and 11th. Did YJ put Ji-min's name on his family registry?

I was reading the replies to "that poll", and it was very confusing to me.

If YJ did this, does Ja-young know about it?

[JadeEyes]

No, Jean. That didn't happen in the episodes on the 10th and 11th. The thing w/ YJ putting JM's name on his family registry just happened in yesterday's ep. He told JY about it in today's. He explained why he did it and it made more sense to me today. You did see episodes today and yesterday, didn't you? Are you not in the Chicago area? Where are you watching?

You may be confused about the poll question because someone posted it a day or so before the ep. aired here, causing some confusing...and ire, for some of us who don't like unannounced spoilers.

The post was initially pulled by the forum moderator, then reinstated by someone else when the ep. aired the next day.

Jade

[Jean]

Jade Eyes

I live in Wilmington, Delaware, but the show is shown out of Philadelphia Pa.

I agree with you, I do not like hearing what has happened before I see it. The Yellow Handerchief show I watch is on Tuesday to Saturday 11:50 PM until 12:24 A.M. (Time varies by minutes when it starts and ends - whenever Korean news show is over, the Yellow Handerchief starts).


Where I am watching this show, the music they usually play in the beginning has been shortened. This just happened this week. The music is beautiful, and I always looked forward to it. Now it is only on for 30-50 seconds (I am not sure how long, but it is very short).

Jean