Hmmm, I knew going in that the story was going to be set in modern Jeju and star JS ans SY so I knew it was a backstory ep and I still thought it was awesome - I honestly wanted the whole drama about the two (surely there must be a drama out there somewhere about a tough gangster who runs away from the cops and a village girl who hides him! Sort of like a mix of Fashion 70s, Seoul 1945, East of Eden and All In. I want it!)
I don't think he knows about Mi Yeon having a child - it was a total secret from everyone - only the cop knew whose kid it was and I doubt he went telling. I cannot wait to see when he does discover it.
The only difference, so far, is that Jung Woo keeps getting lucky breaks whereas MB didn't.
But it's all relative - nobody made him become an opium dealer in Vietnam and kill bunches of people. And certainly, once he became rich he didn't have to keep on doing all that stuff. It's sort of like IRIS - everyone and everything tried so hard to make HJ into a monsster but they couldn't - it takes a certain kind of person to become so totally ruthless and uncaring.
I feel quite sympathetic to Young!MB but the older - I find him interesting and I do feel some pity for him occasionally (he is clearly brainy and his life is a waste of potential in some ways) but I mainly loathe him - he has done so many unforgivable things. He is a fascinating character though.
How far in are you, btw? I am wondering if you got to JW's confession to SH yet - I bawled like a girlie girl.
ETA: back to Jeju post-makeover, grand and rich and ready to start anew, only to discover the love of his life had died years ago. MY HEART. ):
That totally must have happened. Ugh. Now I am sad.
I didn't know any of the stars beforehand, I thought MB/Mi Yeon was the drama's OTP and their weepy separation would be the split mentioned in the synopsis before they met again years later. It literally wasn't until Mi Yeon died in childbirth that I figured it out and was like "...goddamnit!"
So yeah, that was traumatic. XD
It's sort of like IRIS - everyone and everything tried so hard to make HJ into a monsster but they couldn't - it takes a certain kind of person to become so totally ruthless and uncaring.
That's definitely true, and it's not that I think MB is a great guy (or even a good one) but I think a lot of his villainy was because of circumstance and tough breaks rather than an evil core. He didn't get any of the convenient saves Jung Woo has -- I think Jung Woo is only a hero at this point because of twists of fate rather than actual moral fiber.
I'm only through ep 4 though, for all I know MB starts kicking puppies. But at this point I just feel terribly sorry for him and I want him and Jung Woo to get a happily ever after, father to son. (And I know the chances of that happening are 0.00001 percent and it only makes me feel sorrier.)
wasn't until Mi Yeon died in childbirth that I figured it out and was like "...goddamnit!"
She didn't die in childbirth though - she died when hero was 5 - I think they mentioned she drowned on one of her diving trips.
I'm only through ep 4 though, for all I know MB starts kicking puppies
I have yet to see any puppies in this drama, kicked or otherwise. So rest safe :) OK, maybe I am influenced by later stuff where you see just how ruthless he can be and he does things that JW would never do - could future JW do horribly ruthless things if his life went differently? Perhaps but the thing is, somehow JW started a lot more adjusted - I could never see JW really selling out any of his close friends - he would stop whatever it is in order to protect them - but MB doesn't have any friends whatsoever - I think he lost a capacity for friendship. I have no idea if I am making any sense - I think even back when he met Mi Yeon, he was a lot more gone than JW was but it is the man he is by now I don't really care for.
I thought that was just a lie her mother used to explain her disappearance? Unless we get more flashbacks I'm not aware of.
the thing is, somehow JW started a lot more adjusted
I see that as luck, though -- JW is only better adjusted because fate keeps conspiring to keep his hands clean -- I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but I'm continually struck by the ways JW and MB get put in the same situations yet JW always gets an out whereas MB didn't. Thrown in jail? JW is released, MB is sent to a brutal labor camp. Beat up by thugs? JW gets a job, MB gets carted off as a prisoner and his pregnant girlfriend gives birth alone. Etc etc. Jung Woo has made a lot of truly dubious moral choices, selling his soul to the mob, willing to become a hitman, and it's only luck that he keeps being spared the worst of it.
Oh, I agree that luck and just different times played a role in the fact that JW and MB turned out differently. But the thing is - I understand it but I still don't like the way MB turned out. If, in the course of the drama, JW is going the same way, I'll stop liking him too. It's sort of about the final result for me :)
Though one note about prison - to be fair, when MB went in, he was genuinely convicted for some hardcore crime (not that anyone deserves the kind of treatment those prisoners got, of course). JW at that point hadn't done anything criminal at all and is there to take the blame for someone else. So I don't have the problem with him not getting as badly treated - if he was as badly treated as MB was, that would be even more unfair. Re: killer for the mob - I don't think he ever would have carried it out (he prevents his friends from carrying it out on his behalf later).
All I know is that I now want to watch a drama set in a horrible prison camp and some girl involved in a rescue. Sadly the only one I know is Seoul 1945 where hero and heroine both end up, as communists, in a horrible torturing labor camp. That does not end so well.
You know, I am at about the halfway point of the drama right now and I have to admit you were 100% on point - I can certainly see MB in JW - I can certainly see JW slowly start along the same path which transformed MB into what he ultimately became. I do think he has the capability of becoming his father.
I don't think he knows about Mi Yeon having a child - it was a total secret from everyone - only the cop knew whose kid it was and I doubt he went telling. I cannot wait to see when he does discover it.
The only difference, so far, is that Jung Woo keeps getting lucky breaks whereas MB didn't.
But it's all relative - nobody made him become an opium dealer in Vietnam and kill bunches of people. And certainly, once he became rich he didn't have to keep on doing all that stuff. It's sort of like IRIS - everyone and everything tried so hard to make HJ into a monsster but they couldn't - it takes a certain kind of person to become so totally ruthless and uncaring.
I feel quite sympathetic to Young!MB but the older - I find him interesting and I do feel some pity for him occasionally (he is clearly brainy and his life is a waste of potential in some ways) but I mainly loathe him - he has done so many unforgivable things. He is a fascinating character though.
How far in are you, btw? I am wondering if you got to JW's confession to SH yet - I bawled like a girlie girl.
ETA: back to Jeju post-makeover, grand and rich and ready to start anew, only to discover the love of his life had died years ago. MY HEART. ):
That totally must have happened. Ugh. Now I am sad.
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So yeah, that was traumatic. XD
It's sort of like IRIS - everyone and everything tried so hard to make HJ into a monsster but they couldn't - it takes a certain kind of person to become so totally ruthless and uncaring.
That's definitely true, and it's not that I think MB is a great guy (or even a good one) but I think a lot of his villainy was because of circumstance and tough breaks rather than an evil core. He didn't get any of the convenient saves Jung Woo has -- I think Jung Woo is only a hero at this point because of twists of fate rather than actual moral fiber.
I'm only through ep 4 though, for all I know MB starts kicking puppies. But at this point I just feel terribly sorry for him and I want him and Jung Woo to get a happily ever after, father to son. (And I know the chances of that happening are 0.00001 percent and it only makes me feel sorrier.)
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She didn't die in childbirth though - she died when hero was 5 - I think they mentioned she drowned on one of her diving trips.
I'm only through ep 4 though, for all I know MB starts kicking puppies
I have yet to see any puppies in this drama, kicked or otherwise. So rest safe :) OK, maybe I am influenced by later stuff where you see just how ruthless he can be and he does things that JW would never do - could future JW do horribly ruthless things if his life went differently? Perhaps but the thing is, somehow JW started a lot more adjusted - I could never see JW really selling out any of his close friends - he would stop whatever it is in order to protect them - but MB doesn't have any friends whatsoever - I think he lost a capacity for friendship. I have no idea if I am making any sense - I think even back when he met Mi Yeon, he was a lot more gone than JW was but it is the man he is by now I don't really care for.
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the thing is, somehow JW started a lot more adjusted
I see that as luck, though -- JW is only better adjusted because fate keeps conspiring to keep his hands clean -- I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but I'm continually struck by the ways JW and MB get put in the same situations yet JW always gets an out whereas MB didn't. Thrown in jail? JW is released, MB is sent to a brutal labor camp. Beat up by thugs? JW gets a job, MB gets carted off as a prisoner and his pregnant girlfriend gives birth alone. Etc etc. Jung Woo has made a lot of truly dubious moral choices, selling his soul to the mob, willing to become a hitman, and it's only luck that he keeps being spared the worst of it.
Reply
Though one note about prison - to be fair, when MB went in, he was genuinely convicted for some hardcore crime (not that anyone deserves the kind of treatment those prisoners got, of course). JW at that point hadn't done anything criminal at all and is there to take the blame for someone else. So I don't have the problem with him not getting as badly treated - if he was as badly treated as MB was, that would be even more unfair. Re: killer for the mob - I don't think he ever would have carried it out (he prevents his friends from carrying it out on his behalf later).
All I know is that I now want to watch a drama set in a horrible prison camp and some girl involved in a rescue. Sadly the only one I know is Seoul 1945 where hero and heroine both end up, as communists, in a horrible torturing labor camp. That does not end so well.
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