My favorite scene in episode 12 of Secret Garden
And, surprisingly, it's not the final scene of the episode (though I loved it to bits).
The melancholy, the composition of it. Everything - regret, longing, 'wrongness' of the pairings as they are in this scene conveyed without a single word.
What I really love is that during this scene it's made both (a) objectively clear that JW/Seul and Oska/Raim are a more logical match and that (b) it ain't never going to happen.
If you think about it, JW and Raim are basically incompatible, worldwise. Can you imagine Joo Won knocking back drinks with Raim in some shack of a dive? His fastidious, neurotic self would probably have a breakdown. And can you imagine Raim ever fitting in the elegance and gilt of Joo Won's family surroundings? She would be stifled and uncomfortable. The irony of it is that, on paper, Seul is a perfect match for Joo Won - the proper family background and wealth, approval of his mother, even his ideal body type - she's both leggy and busty. Yet he couldn't care less if she flung herself naked on him - he's fixated on the 'wrong' Raim. In reality, JW and RI are absolutely the wrong match - both are in love with other people. Also even if Raim and Oska didn't exist, JW and Seul still wouldn't be compatible - Seul likes drama and headgames and Joo Won is highly eccentric, borderline Asperger's, with no tolerance or understanding of either. It would be a marriage that would make them both miserable. While Raim and Oska would be a recipe for disaster in another way. Oska is better adjusted than JW (though that is a very low bar) but, for good or ill, Seul seems to be the only one to breach his emotional walls. Plus, despite Raim fangirling him to death, she isn't crushing on him in a concrete sense at all - there is no charge the way there is with prickly lunatic that is Joo Won. Sure, she's kind and she admires him almost as much as he admires himself but that would be a relationship doomed to failure. He'd try his best and be sweet to her but I don't think he'd be able to deal with more than a couple of months of monogamy with her - her very simplicity and straightforwardness of personality would not work for him. He needs the headgames and messiness and drama of someone like Seul. He's a diva for a reason.
I am totally shipping Director with JW's sister. He's awesome and needs an OTP of his own. I don't think he and RI are a good match at all because they are both equally passive when it comes to relationships. Even if they did like each other, they'd never come out with it. Yeah, JW-as-RI told Director not to like her, but are you kidding me? Do you think something like that would have stopped JW? RI threw worse at him. The rest (JW, Oska, Seul, JW's sister) are active in pursuit of their romantic goals, even if in some cases, they are totally dysfunctional about them, but Director and RI are not - so they need someone to openly chase them.
If your heart did not melt at this, you have no soul. Of course, JW is little mermaid in this scenario (have you seen his house? It's as isolated, pristine, and blue, as an ocean - it has that underwater motif). And just as it was hard for Little Mermaid to get used to be on land and with legs, instead of tail, it's would be hard for JW to get used to living in 'normal world' and possibly without money. Oh, woobies, ILY.
The melancholy, the composition of it. Everything - regret, longing, 'wrongness' of the pairings as they are in this scene conveyed without a single word.
What I really love is that during this scene it's made both (a) objectively clear that JW/Seul and Oska/Raim are a more logical match and that (b) it ain't never going to happen.
If you think about it, JW and Raim are basically incompatible, worldwise. Can you imagine Joo Won knocking back drinks with Raim in some shack of a dive? His fastidious, neurotic self would probably have a breakdown. And can you imagine Raim ever fitting in the elegance and gilt of Joo Won's family surroundings? She would be stifled and uncomfortable. The irony of it is that, on paper, Seul is a perfect match for Joo Won - the proper family background and wealth, approval of his mother, even his ideal body type - she's both leggy and busty. Yet he couldn't care less if she flung herself naked on him - he's fixated on the 'wrong' Raim. In reality, JW and RI are absolutely the wrong match - both are in love with other people. Also even if Raim and Oska didn't exist, JW and Seul still wouldn't be compatible - Seul likes drama and headgames and Joo Won is highly eccentric, borderline Asperger's, with no tolerance or understanding of either. It would be a marriage that would make them both miserable. While Raim and Oska would be a recipe for disaster in another way. Oska is better adjusted than JW (though that is a very low bar) but, for good or ill, Seul seems to be the only one to breach his emotional walls. Plus, despite Raim fangirling him to death, she isn't crushing on him in a concrete sense at all - there is no charge the way there is with prickly lunatic that is Joo Won. Sure, she's kind and she admires him almost as much as he admires himself but that would be a relationship doomed to failure. He'd try his best and be sweet to her but I don't think he'd be able to deal with more than a couple of months of monogamy with her - her very simplicity and straightforwardness of personality would not work for him. He needs the headgames and messiness and drama of someone like Seul. He's a diva for a reason.
I am totally shipping Director with JW's sister. He's awesome and needs an OTP of his own. I don't think he and RI are a good match at all because they are both equally passive when it comes to relationships. Even if they did like each other, they'd never come out with it. Yeah, JW-as-RI told Director not to like her, but are you kidding me? Do you think something like that would have stopped JW? RI threw worse at him. The rest (JW, Oska, Seul, JW's sister) are active in pursuit of their romantic goals, even if in some cases, they are totally dysfunctional about them, but Director and RI are not - so they need someone to openly chase them.
If your heart did not melt at this, you have no soul. Of course, JW is little mermaid in this scenario (have you seen his house? It's as isolated, pristine, and blue, as an ocean - it has that underwater motif). And just as it was hard for Little Mermaid to get used to be on land and with legs, instead of tail, it's would be hard for JW to get used to living in 'normal world' and possibly without money. Oh, woobies, ILY.