The most puzzling relationship portrayed in this series is between wife Hye Won and her husband Joon Hyung. Why him, Hye Won? Surrounded by many musical and creative people back then, was he the only option? How detached could she have been to enter into this sham of convenience? Maybe the answers don’t matter because nobody ends up in an unhappy situation overnight. We are where we are because of a thousand decisions along the way. Early on in Hye Won’s adult life, she traded away the chance at happiness through love and marriage for the contentment of things and prestige. Her friends claim to envy everything she has – excluding her husband, of course. Before meeting Sun Jae, she may have been lonely, but not unbearably so. Bright beautiful passionate Sun Jae arrived, reached into her heart and tugged at the need she had buried for so many years: desire for a human connection, for affection, of touching and being touched. He held her and her heart in his lovely warm hands, throwing into sharp relief the cold emptiness of her existence without him.
They are poised now, face to face, her foot caught in the mousetrap, his hand ready to rip it off for her. His warning that it will hurt and that she will have to endure it frightens her enough to demand why he would attempt it. But, really, what other course of action would someone like Sun Jae accept? He simply cannot bear to watch her stuck forever in a place of misery. Sun Jae and Hye Won together need to reach the lowest low and deepest despair. It is the only path to freedom.
William S. Burroughs, novelist, musician, extremist in all he did wrote: Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.
Episode 14 recap:
The party from hell continues without Sun Jae, who has hidden himself away in the Piano Room. Tormented. Suffering. Lost.
Jong Soo, the TA, comes in to try to pull him back into what has turned into the second round of Min Woo’s going away party.
“Hyung,” Sun Jae begs. “Can you get my clothes?” At first not understanding the significance of what seems like a small thing, he asks why bother to change. But Sun Jae communicates his distress through his eyes in regards to what lies outside that room clearly enough that the TA concedes.
Jong Soo walks into the laughter outside while Sun Jae gasps for air and grasps at the collar of the suffocating disguise he is being forced to wear.
Coming down the stairs, Joon Hyung calls for Jong Soo to wake up Sun Jae, despite Hye Won’s protest. “No,” insists Joon Hyung, “Sun Jae should come out to say hello.”
Ji Soo, sitting on the sofa, can feel the tension of the situation, and Mahjong secretary continues to delight in it.
Sun Jae appears slightly less tense, but only slightly, once changed back into his own things. Jong Soo goes with the story that the young man was asleep, he wants to know why Sun Jae looked scared. “It’s not that I’m scared…” Sun Jae begins, and appears to gather his courage by repeating it and with more energy, grabs the borrowed shirt and slacks.
As he leaves the Piano room, he attempts a confident smile. Walking into a nightmare, conversation and laughter greet him. “I was after her for so long… After all those efforts…” The moment he appears, Hye Won pulls away from her husband. A new face is there, and is introduced as the company sponsor for the after party. Joon Hyung clearly stakes his claim on Hye Won by putting a clumsy arm around her shoulder. She reacts by pulling her hair away.
The bar owner offers Sun Jae free drinks.
Mahjong Secretary greets him with her odd smile and Jo asks about the interview, empathizing with the boy.
Hye Won keeps her eyes down; Sun Jae doesn’t know where to look.
When Ji Soo suggest they eat ramen, Hye Won jumps up, then goes into the kitchen to help. People come in and out; Sun Jae is made to sit down next to Joon Hyung. Once he is seated, his discomfort is so obvious everyone falls silent. We get a peek through a glass partition at Hye Won keeping a cheerful busy front up, but her secretary’s tense face reveals the truth.
Sun Jae’s smile flickers weakly, but it won’t stay long enough to mask the distress in his eyes.
Min Woo lightens the mood by playing the double suicide ending motif of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake –
where the lovers throw themselves into a lake in order to defeat the evil enchantment. La la.la. (This music director is killing me.) The Good guys, Hye Won’s secretary, Jong Soo, Hye Won and Sun Jae clean up after the ramen party in the kitchen. Hye Won’s secretary, who I love, warns Sun Jae to leave before the annoying Joon Hyung calls him again.
Hye Won asks them to leave him be. She looks guiltily at him, and he turns only slightly to get a look at her.
Joon Hyung is complaining about Sun Jae’s quintet, spouting the repertoire doesn’t fit Sun Jae. That while Brahms may have admired Dvorak, wasn’t his music a little too sentimental? Too sorrowful like a sob song. Ji Soo points out it is a matter of preference, though Joon Hyung disagrees.
Hye Won hasn’t spoken much at all through this party, trying to stay in the background.
After she brings in more wine, and deposits the bottles on the table, she leaves the room – “To go brush my teeth.” Her husband orders her to hurry back, then returns to his pompous lecture about how Dvorak is like trot music.
Wearily, Hye Won climbs her stairs, while sorrowfully Sun Jae watches her back from below her in the kitchen through a glass wall.
We pause now to acknowledge the perfection of this image. Once in the room, Hye Won fades against the wall, taking deep breaths then remains a moment. She walks towards the sink area, but something out of our sight catches her attention and she stops, and then cautiously approaches the bed.
Eyes fixed, she seems hesitant, but does finally reach for it. It’s the Russian Piano player book that Sun Jae has left out on the foot of her bed open to a specific page.
She picks it up and reads.
Joon Hyung pulls Sun Jae back to the torment of the party as predicted. Reluctantly, but obediently, he goes back in.
Hye Won reads, and we hear Sun Jae’s narration. “We leave in a car. The car the piano is loaded on follows. As if to avoid a plague on the highway, we drive on the local roads. We perform in the corner of a small town. It can be a theater or a school. The best part about it is that people come for the music alone not because of snobbery.” She flips back a few pages, and continues, “I’m not crazy. I’m normal. Perhaps, I want to be crazy.”
The words touch her and remind her of the wisdom she tried to pass to Sun Jae when he was desperate and alone, and she sits tearfully silent until Ji Soo joins her. “What are they looking for me again?” Ji Soo wants to know what is up with her friend, taken aback by Hye Won’s inability to handle this situation.
Hye Won admits it, and sinks back down onto the bed, rendered immobile.
Back downstairs, Joon Hyung’s bad temper has increased with his consumption of more alcohol. With Sun Jae silent on the sofa beside him, he grabs Hye Won and pulls her to his other side.
Then puts one heavy arm on each of their shoulders before chugging down a glass of wine. Mahjong secretary wearing that jerky grin watches, and Sun Jae, poor Sun Jae, absorbs blow after blow of indignity.
Prosecutor Husband has made himself comfortable with Mde Han and Young Woo in an office, reading off the soon to be published smear campaign against Hye Won.
“The title is ‘Seohan Arts Foundation Possibly Implicated…Comparisons between the art foundations management in Korea and the world.’” The plan, he explains, is to let the news out slowly without mentioning names at first. Mde Han opposes the vagueness; she wants it to be clear she is not being implicated. Young Woo wants to know how, exactly, they are going to make Hye Won guilty. Citing her resume, they will cast doubts on her experience, claiming her internship is untrue and that she plagiarized her Master’s thesis. Young Woo protests that the accusations are false, she knows since they lived together at the time.
Han reminds her that the accusations don’t have to be true to create an impression on people. Young Woo knows these weak tactics aren’t going to scare off Hye Won. Her husband states once the stories hit, they’ll see how she reacts. A phone call from Han brings a peon in with a document for Prosecutor Husband to examine. Young Woo wants to know what the heck the old lady is up to now (OK, my words), and Han responds that she compiled a document to scare off Hye Won. It’s a list of Hye Won’s corruptions. The very same piece of literature Da Mi saw. “To show her that woman who stole her lover is that kind of person.” Young Woo is disgusted, “You even took advantage of kids? You will be cursed.”
Han retorts, “I’m already a bundle of sins. What’s one more?”
Young Woo’s phone buzzes and she’s impressed by something, “Will you look at that.” Oh Hye Won and Kang Joon Hyung pretending to be a happy couple. Mahjong secretary has snuck off to report on the goings on at the party.
Joon Hyung, still book-ended by a miserable Hye Won and Sun Jae, is trying to feed his wife a strawberry. Hye Won resists this for as long as possible, but Joon Hyung won’t stop. She capitulates and takes it from the fork as Sun Jae gets up and leaves.
Prosecutor Husband and Han finalize their evil scheme to cross-reference the upcoming audits with the specifics of Han’s awful list. He encourages the two women to keep cooperating. Han reaches out her hand to Young Woo to shake, asserting, “We’re one happy family, aren’t we?” Young Woo doesn’t look like she agrees. Mde Han speculates that Joon Hyung and Hye Won only invited guests over to show off their marital bliss. “Why didn’t Young Woo go?” Because it wouldn’t be fun, duh.
Nice secretary tells Jong Soo she’s so nervous she can’t watch anymore. Joon Hyung’s acting on Min’s advice, like his puppet, and the TA feels bad. Nice secretary feels worse for Hye Won. Joon Hyung’s advanced state of drunkenness makes him even more ornery. Hearing Min Woo play in the other room, he complains that it isn’t even authentic jazz.
Jo humors him and calls out to Min Woo to stop. Sun Jae has found a measure of peace listening to the music, Jo finds him and tells him to hang in there that they will be leaving soon enough.
Min woo gets Joon Hyung’s instructions to play some classical music, so he starts on Twinkle Twinkle (which Mozart arranged several variations entitled “Ah, vous dirai-je Maman?”) Jo goes back to the leather sectional of Hell to see if Joon Hyung approves. He immediately wants to know if Sun Jae is in there, too. They all tell him to lay off, but he insists he needs to teach him a thing or two and attempts to get up.
We flash back to much much much happier times when beautiful happy Sun Jae plays his lovely version for Hye Won in the Piano room of love and hugs. I want to cry. Sun Jae has the same reaction listening to Min Woo fiddling around with the tune. He leans over in physical pain.
Min Woo’s Disneyfied Twinkle finishes,
and Sun Jae is obliged to step up to the challenge and play, only he looks like a lamb going to the slaughter. In a flash, I find tears in my eyes. Joon Hyung, seated next to a sickened Hye Won, yells to Sun Jae to “Show them!” Looking defiant, but complying at the keyboard in front of all the guests, he hears Kang shout again.
“I said, show them.” The drunken man can’t stand, and falls onto Hye Won while trying to. She slides away, horrified.
Sun Jae has begun his Twinkles. He starts fast and fancy and brittle. In the other room, Hye Won shoves a pillow under her husband’s head and hides behind a wall.
Las Vegas style Twinkle flows into a slightly heavier tone. Sun Jae looks determined to please the fussy Joon Hyung at any cost. Hye Won listens looking rightfully ashamed. Sun Jae’s playing takes a definitely darker turn, descending into something gloomy, furious and Beethoven-like.
It’s beautiful, but it hurts to listen. Sun Jae’s face shows pain, anger, hate.
The crushing chords strike the now sobbing Hye Won in the soul; she covers her ears.
Swirling away now away from complex chords, Sun Jae ends his display with a simple and devastating dirge.
Hye Won covers her mouth to hold in the grief.
The player, aching and raw, seems to have lost all hope, surprised at the depths he has fallen to wondering how he got there.
Thankfully, the party breaks up. The guests go outside, Jo kids about going to their house next to wake up the children for a family concert. Joon Hyung, plastered, can’t stand at all; he wonders where everyone went while the Ahjumma cleans up.
Ji Soo tries to comfort Sun Jae. “It was a punishing evening for you.” Min Woo says his good-byes, telling Sun Jae he’ll call when he returns.
Zombie Drunk Ass Stalker Rat makes his appearance and we hear Sun Jae turning down a ride home from Jo. Instead, Joon Hyung commands they give him the keys so he can drive the boy home, though he can’t stand long enough to finish the sentence. In a moment of sheer horror, Sun Jae tries to convince his professor to go inside, but Joon Hyung insists they drive him home. “PULL OUT THE CAR!” He screams, and Hye Won shuts him up by agreeing. Sun Jae asks Joon Hyung if he is all right. Somewhere deep in his sub-conscience, Joon Hyung’s brain gets the irony of the question, “You are asking if I am all right?”
The attempt to get Joon Hyung into the car fails. Once again Sun Jae has to pick up and carry the poor excuse for a man into the house.
Hye Won remains in the car, broken, crying, while Sun Jae with Ahjumma’s help dumps Joon Hyung on the sofa. The effort exhausts him. A contrite Hye Won greets Sun Jae in the entry to the garage.
The wretched young man’s wounded expression pains me to see. Hye Won can’t and won’t make eye contact. She shakes her head telling him she is ashamed, then reaches out to touch him.
“I asked you to do something really terrible. I thought wrongly. I was arrogant. I shouldn’t have done this.” Throughout her admission of guilt, Sun Jae looks sadly at her but doesn’t speak. She wants him to say something and tries to soften him with a kiss. He pulls back quickly, then weakly puts his hand on her shoulders and before pulling her close.
“Please don’t make yourself so pitiful. I can’t kiss a pitiful woman.” He steps back from her, squeezing her upper arm, telling her to go to sleep. Hye Won is confused and looks lost.
He gives her a concerned smile, but then another look passes – one of resolve.
Inside Hye Won is left alone to crawl into her own fetal position of agony. Outside, body-wracking sobs rip through Sun Jae, crouched against the wall his head buried in his arm.
The situation at the Seohan Foundation the next morning is calm office professionals handling a barrage of curious phone calls – denying the allegations – against Mde Han specifically. Nice secretary reads the headlines over Hye Won’s shoulder Oh Hye Won, vice CEO of Seohan Art Center, Seohan Arts Foundation’s Influential Heavyweight Behind the Scenes? She really doesn’t want her boss to read this,
and has blocked all incoming calls. The magazine editor comes in to commiserate. Hye Won sends her secretary out for some bubble tea. While ordering a very detailed beverage with percentages, she gets a call from Mahjong Secretary who is so utterly ridiculous in her delusions of grandeur, I have to laugh at her rather than hate her. Nice secretary wants to hurl the Peach Green Tea at her lying face, but delivers the beverage dutifully,
hearing as she walks away in disgust, “It’s not completely different from the truth…Connect these calls to Hye Won.”
In the office, Hye Won’s friend wants her to defend herself adamantly against the foul charges. The purpose of the visit is made clear – the interview will not be published,
at least not anytime soon, and they are very sorry. Hye Won graciously tells her not to worry about it. Nice Secretary is texting – Jong Soo maybe? : Did you see the article? We’re totally swamped over here.”
Ugh Seo is dressed in hospital pajamas, complaining he didn’t want to have his picture taken in these clothes. Han agrees, but continues to button him into them.
Young Woo’s demanding to know why Hye Won isn’t in jail already in his place like he said? He asks about Hye Won’s affair with a younger man. “A 20 year old!” Young Woo adds, enviously, I think. Wise for once, Prosecutor Husband suggests not throwing that stone too hastily. Since the house they are living in is completely made of glass, and Oh Hye Won is well aware of that. No one dissents. Ugh Seo completes his disguise with a face mask and they walk out.
Han stops Young Woo, whispering maybe it’s time for her to get rid of her younger BF, “It’s embarrassing.” and Young Woo insults her calling her an old serpent.
Han arrives at the office. Mahjong lets her in announcing Baek’s presence, and then asks for an official Q&A document for all the calls flooding in. Han berates her – she should be able to take care of that on her own.
So Mahjong jumps right on it, and returns to her desk to work on…her Mahjong book and online instructions –
fiddling while Rome burns. Nice.
Baek reports how difficult it is to figure out exactly what Hye Won did with all the money – she must have distributed funds over several accounts.
Han sees it won’t be as easy as they maybe assumed. She calls Min, as is her habit, to put pressure on Joon Hyung.
For the 100th time, Min calls in the gullible goof Joon Hyung. With extremely twisted logic I am not attempting to understand, Min suggests he help by suing Hye Won for adultery. Penal code 241. Only the spouse can make the charge. We know Joon Hyung doesn’t want that. AT ALL. The only way to pay for her sins and play the martyr is to go to jail. Joon Hyung is as confused as I am.
Hye Won is back to business as usual, planning master classes with her staff, and telling them to keep their spirits up. She gets an invite out to dinner with Joon Hyung who feigns concern that she is having a hard time.
She makes a call to someone she speaks politely to “So I am thinking of going today, so I can show you my face.” Hmmmm…
She is interrupted by the lovely Ji Soo who comes in with a bottle or two for her fridge.
Hye Won finishes the call making a 4PM appointment starting with a massage. The articles worry Ji Soo, and the phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Her advice is to keep the act up with Joon Hyung, while soothing Sun Jae. She cautions the most horrible thing in the world is a witch-hunt, especially with every citizen in South Korea being a judge. Hye Won injects some levity by inviting her to go along for a massage, but the mom can’t. Ji Soo tells her she needs to heed her advice and that she is on Hye Won’s side, and they part Hye Won kissing her friend’s cheek.
Hye Won drops the bravado for a moment and promises to listen.
At the salon, Hye Won requests to see Da Mi. She waits, sipping juice listening to the soothing sounds of easy listening strings. Da Mi arrives looking less fierce than the last time, and bows formally.
Hye Won wants to make up. Da Mi has heard a lot of bad things, including that she could be arrested. Mostly, Hye Won wants to know what exactly it was Da Mi saw that made her want to puke. The girl hesitates, “It wasn’t pictures or anything.” We see the flashback of a hand off of an envelope that came down from a highly place person who thinks Da Mi needed to see it. Reading it pissed the young girl off so bad, she went to Hye Won’s office. “Good job.” Hye Won smiles. “I…I told Sun Jae…that if you threw away everything and went to him then I’d believe it.” Hye Won says she’s impressed and Da Mi tells her she meant it.
Hye Won requests Da Mi show Sun Jae the evil document. She must show it to him. She leaves without a shampoo. The stylist is professionally tightlipped about the scandal.
Hye Won wonders how the woman can be like that, but the stylist claims she has to “live without ears to stay in business.” The stylist offers to give her more volume since Hye Won informs her she is meeting with her husband later. For one who lives without ears, she does manage to get information.
Joon Hyung awaits his wife, torn, it seems about something. He gets up to watch a very glamorous and sexy lady ushered in by the waiter. The sight of her makes him smile. He asks the waiter to quietly open the Dom, of course, Pérignon.
Sun Jae is rehearsing with the Misfit 5; they share snacks and drinks afterward. He seems relaxed, if not exactly happy.
Kang is blah blah blahing about why musicians can make a political difference. Hye Won tells him dryly that he is being lofty.
The subject is changed to the purpose of the dinner. “To others…I may look strange. Everyone in the world suspects adultery between my wife and my pupil. But I’m the one that’s happy. There’s something they don’t know though. How much did Schumann cherish Brahms?” She listens stone-faced to him.
Hye Won recognizes she is Clara Schumann in this story and that it is Min behind this.
What he suggests is that she serve the time in jail, while he watches over Sun Jae, even sending him abroad if he wants. He would hate to have that beautiful kid accused of the crime of adultery – it would ruin him. Hye Won rejects this. The situation is crazy. How can they as a married couple be talking like this?
She tells him, wearily, if he is patient, he can get what he wants, and then calls for the check.
The kids walk out from their practice, Cello girl heard he would pass the preliminaries for the competition no problem, and he tells her he heard she was going to quit school. She asks “Don’t you think its better to avoid a fight when one can’t win?” He isn’t sure about that but until she quits, doesn’t she want to do well with this quintet? All of them would like to, and they hope Sun Jae does, too.
He promises he will, and smiles genuinely. But what about his professor, the preliminaries, his scholarship? None of it matters, except this. He assures her again, he will continue with them.
Once home, Joon Hyung has thrown his subtle helpful approach out completely, shouting at Hye Won to turn herself in immediately. Now it is Hye Won’s turn to be slumped over.
She brings her head up only to cry. Joon Hyung takes his sleeping pill and his rage out on Hye Won’s rows of cosmetics, knocking them onto the floor.
The investigation, we find out from Prosecutor Husband could become lengthy if Hye Won doesn’t comply soon. He tells Han that the source of funds for Seohan Apparel would be revealed. Despite Han’s lack of shame and remorse and the fact that Prosecutor Husband admires her for it, time is running out.
They have to use some pretty rough tactics to flush Hye Won out. They have to inflict the most painful shame before any legal maneuvers. Han bets that the lovers won’t be able to resist meeting and soon. I hate her and her smug knowing smile. Prosecutor makes a call to put a 24/7 watch out on the lovers.
The three best friends ever snack on hard-boiled eggs and casually discuss the secrets a woman who could become one of the most hunted criminals of their time. Jang Ho has read all the bad things Hye Won is accused of, but Sun Jae doesn’t feel it’s necessary for him.
He asks, “Do you have to read what’s written to know?” But it shocked Jang Ho enough to call her a rotten bitch. There were accusations that she stole from janitorial staff, brokering illegal admissions and embezzlement. None of this moves Sun Jae. He could be kicked out of school, be forced to pay back scholarship money, too. Whatever. Sun Jae takes off – saying good-bye to the Ahjumma. His friends watch him open mouthed, yelling ”Yah!” and not for the last time, I am guessing. Even the ahjumma doesn’t think Hye Won seemed like that kind of person. Da Mi describes Hye Won as the picture of elegance.
Notsomuch now, as Hye Won sucks down scotch in her kitchen.
The life being squeezed out of her from all sides. She pours another and downs that. A text comes in from Sun Jae. He’s outside. She considers it, leans on the counter, and then holds her hand to her chest, looking anxiously at the message, then towards the door.
Outside, Sun Jae awaits, helmet on, looking like a 12 year old who had his puppy stolen.
End
“There was a door
And I could not open it. I could not touch the handle.
Why could I not walk out of my prison?”
―T.S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party
Yeah well, there you go, Hye Won, you and your husband managed to create for Sun Jae The Cocktail Party from Hell. Those were the most excruciating opening moments of an episode ever. A waking nightmare from which there was no escape. It was more than the roadside accident you couldn’t look away from, since you were thrust into the middle of the suffering, trapped as Sun Jae. It was like looking at a painting that was stabbing you repeatedly and we let it. I have played and replayed the 2 minutes 43 seconds of the “Twinkle Twinkle” variation to allow me to feel all that pain again. My 150+ screen captures of just that one scene at the piano draw me over and over to find yet another nuanced emotion on Yoo Ah In’s face. I have been relishing this exquisite agony for days.
What is next? Does Hye Won allow herself to be ambushed by Bad Seohan? Who the heck is the person she called from her office that she wanted to go see? Will all her careful planning fall apart because as Han predicted, she can’t live a day without a taste of joy with Sun Jae? What is going through Sun Jae’s mind now? How has his perception of Hye Won changed? I don’t think he had her on a pedestal recently. Once she allowed him to see her weak side, Sun Jae realized the woman he loves is far from perfect. Can they find the strength to endure the upcoming turmoil and one day recapture their too brief moments of shared calm and pleasure? Can they live happily ever after? I say yes and yes and yes!
❀ ✿ ❀
I know there are some folks out there reading the recaps, or hearing abut SLA from other sites, but not watching it. Hopefully, eventually it will be recognized as something you cannot afford to miss. In South Korea, I can guarantee there is not a single actor, writer, director, lighting person, or sound engineer who is not watching this show, and scrutinizing every detail of Yoo Ah In’s scenes. Forget ratings and any concern about the subject matter, or that the audience isn’t interested in an “artsy” dramas compared to the hyped ones that get all the attention. Despite that, those jaded and overworked citizens of Korean TVland are marveling over the power of his performance as Lee Sun Jae. Long after 2014 has ended, and YAI is off in the army and back again working in other productions, his character and how he portrayed it will be dissected, discussed and held up as THE example of how this job is supposed to be done with honesty, hard work and humility. I am so happy he got his chance to shine.
Thanks for the recap.
For me the most disturbing moment of depravity in the series so far was Joon Hyung screaming at Hye-Won to go to jail already [so that he can reap the rewards from her sacrifice].
I go back and forth between feeling really sorry for him because he is such a weakling and hating him because he is such a coward! His snobbish lecturing on music shows he is knowledgeable, so he isn’t a complete waste. We saw him play in the first episode, too.
I guess he is what we see: a mannequin dressed however Min wants and saying whatever Min tells him to.
I get the impression that he wouldn’t mind the affair if Hye Won wasn’t so obvious about it and if Sun Jae weren’t his great “protege”. It really took me a while to decipher if he was jealous as a husband or a teacher. He is all about appearances and implied power. He is so very pitiful that you want to feel sorry for him but just disgusting enough that you can’t.
What a piece of sh*t husband. I was disgusted by him and vain attempt to push OHW to fall on the blade. I cannot believe she was stuck with this weak-willed man for so long! It is one of the rare time that I was actually on the side of cheating spouse
Just reading the recap broke my heart in million pieces so I’m gonna skip this episode and watch when the serie ends, I think HW can beat the empire evil for sure but with SJ she loses herself her focus, I wish they could be apart a little when she is fighting!
SJ knew she is a married woman so what he expected in this situation?! In episode 6 he told her he could lie to others to protec her, rite!? He gave confidence to HW to start the affair!
Undeniable YAI acting so brilliant ! He is a winner in my heart!
Thanks for ur insights !
I’m so glad that you are writing the recaps and not I. So much of this show leaves me non verbal. The way you describe energy scene and musical Que is perfection. Thank you so much.
For his Christmas concert, my nephew’s orchestra performed “Carol of the Bells” but it was in a low register. It almost seemed like it was in minor key and was creepy and foreboding. Sung Jae’s twinkle -twinkle felt the same way. I felt dirty and guilty and weighed down watching this episode. Yet, it felt like I had to keep watching to give strength and comfort to poor Sung Jae.
The performances in this show are Oscar worthy. It is perfection. There was a movie “Unfaithful” with Diane Lane a few years ago that I wasn’t impressed with. It wishes it had the depth and beauty of Secret Love Affair. Everyone associated with this show deserves ALL THE AWARDS ever.
maybe try age of innocence for a movie that I feel
has the same feel to this drama. it had daniel day Lewis, Winona Ryder and michelle pfeiffer.
the subject may be the same, ie an affair but the main characters went differently in their actions. nonetheless , the movie has this same deliberate pace and tone about it, at least for me
Dear Jomo:
Thank you for your amazing recaps for the last couple of weeks.
I have to admit that at this point, I am more attached to your writing than to the drama itself. Your recaps make me keep watching SLA. You never hesitate to articulate your position (as we know, neutrality is a lie), and your writing is nuanced and yet warm. Most importantly, your analysis is “spacious” and compassionate, while the recent episodes of SLA leave no breathing space, thematically and formalistically.
Perhaps it is off topic, but I was completely struck by the quote you use from William Burroughs. I have been asking myself why I’ve grown emotionally detached from SLA from long time ago. Granted, it is a bona fide artwork that is meant to be taken seriously. Every single shot is waiting to be studied, analyzed and dissected. And yet, precisely because of its perfection, there is something amiss. I guess I kind of wish that there is more Burroughs-ish spontaneity and impulsiveness in the composition. It is a paradox that Dir. Ahn said that everyone of us is living a “calculated” life like HW does. Sometimes I do feel that his directing style is also highly calculated like writers of scientific realism. I wouldn’t deny the greatness of this drama, but I wouldn’t be surprised that some viewers are completely indifferent to it.
With regard to YAI, I always like YAI as a person more than YAI as an actor, and I think he fared way better in films than in dramas. HOWEVER, SLA is a great exception. Just like what you say rightly, YAI has given the most visceral performance I’ve ever seen from him in episode 14. I hope he keeps up the good work!
I get what you are saying about the perfection inspiring detachment.
I stopped watching after the first couple of weeks I couldn’t deal with the civilized cruelty running through the drama. I don’t remember what specifically triggered that response, but I chose to keep up through recaps because I have been enthralled with the story and Jomo’s writing. The recaps haven’t only conveyed plot but also captured mood and tone which is why I’ve found them so satisfying.
I just got back into actual watching with this weeks episodes and the one previous and I see and understand why the distancing perfection feels right for the show. The coldness and detached deliberation is a reflection of the protagonist mindset. Except for her unrehearsed interactions with Sun Jae, and her increasing moments of emotional collapse, every move Hye-Won makes is precise, elegant, rehearsed and perfected. Watching her go through her preparation for bed or dressing in the mornings reminds us of someone with exquisite control.
The women born into wealth have less control and move more spontaneously. There is a sense that Hye-Won’s cultivated control is done to fit in seemlessly and then surpass member of the upper-class.
On this point Secret Love Affair again reminds me of Secret Love in the corrupt social dynamics they explore and in the manner in which the story is told is a reflection of the character/s’ mental state.
Wait, what? I am not being neutral? Ha!
The calculation reminds me of how HW praises the SK pianist Son Yeol Eum – you need to be passionate but controlled. They probably feel the same way about their own work.
Thanks for your comments 🙂
Oooh! I like what you wrote about spontaneity vs control.
The habits she has cultivated over the years to appear elegant all what has formed the way she looks at the world. They are the cohesive force in her life. Here comes SJ with the pin, ready to pop that bubble.
Will he succeed, will she let him?
This is the most heartbreaking episode! I cried so much for Sun Jae :(((( Poor boy for the first time he witnessed and felt himself the hell that HW faces everyday! Bows and rounded applauds to Yoo Ah In’s incredible all out performance!!
Another brilliant recap, jomo! Thank you so much.
What a wonderful recap, jomo. You’re really doing this show justice. Thank you.
I hit rock bottom with ep 13. For the first time my optimism left me and I started to question the intention the makers would have. I always felt they told the story of an illicit affair to question the society’s norms. As in is it possible to root for such a couple, to sympathize for them, to want them to be together? We do this for sure. But it never crossed my mind, that they wouldn’t be together in the end or we wouldn’t get at least the option that they could end up together. In fact, I was greedy. I wanted a more detailed ending than in A Wife’s Credentials. In AWC we got an ending strongly hinting towards a growing relationship under lots of specifications, with different approaches, but with a common goal. But Hye Won and Sun Jae are far more involved and emotionally connected, than the couple in AWC. If Hye Won and Sun Jae don’t end up together, SLA sends out the message, that love is not what’s important, that it got no chance in this dirty world. That can’t be it!
But then again it’s Korean… 😉
After watching ep 14 I felt my optimism is back. But those damn dialogues are so difficult and so layered. We viewers have to interpret so much.
The last two episodes were very tough to watch. I don’t remember feeling so much pain for any fictional character ever before.
Hye Won totally underestimated the party situation and created an almost unbearable situation for Sun Jae and herself. (His borrowed shirt with prison bar pattern, her blouse strangling her, going up the stairs she is unable to look at him)
Sun Jae refusing to kiss Hye Won. It is the third time she initiated a kiss. Always in a situation, where she wanted something from him, this time she needs to confirm his feelings for her, as he is not speaking. It’s the first time he doesn’t respond according to her wishes. Where does he stand emotionally right now?
So, I needed to convince myself that everything is going to end well and came up with this list.
Reasons why Hye Won could still win and they could end up together:
Mde. Han is as deeply involved in the business as Hye Won. Kim’s attempts to put the blame on Hye Won could easily hit her, too. And Mde. Han is not as smart as Hye Won. She is a cold-blooded extortionist, who reached her position through sex, gossip and blackmailing. That’s the business she knows. She needed Hye Won and now she needs Mrs. Baek, she always needs helpers. She doesn’t advice smug secretary Wang how to respond to the calls concerning the internet news hinting at Hye Won, because she doesn’t know herself how to handle them. She always had Hye Won doing this kind of work, that’s her weakness and Hye Won knows it. Also, time is against Mde. Han as Kim said and Hye Won knows, that time will solve the problem as more dirt will come up. She said so to her husband: Be patient, you’ll get what you want.
Young Woo is a spoiled, demanding bitch, but she got a little spark inside of her, that likes Hye Won (who once encouraged her to finally use her brain, let’s see if she follows this advice). And Young Woo got a soft spot for true love, as she herself wants it so much. She is not blind, she sees, how connected our lovers are, she already said, they fit well. She is not fully on board with her husband and step-mother.
Sun Jae and his new group of friends can exchange information about the music instrument fraud and they’ve got a friend with the heart in the right place in Prof Kang’s secretary Jong Soo. He already encouraged Cello girl to sue the Cello bitch, he fought for the students’ money for extra work etc. He knows lots of dirty stories. Maybe Sun Jae gains information that can help Hye Won to add pieces to the puzzle, to attack from a flank the SeoHans neglected?
Hye Won got the USB stick and some papers in her safe, which ace exactly is up her sleeve?
(Also, this series is based on Tokyo Tower. They even bought the rights. So far pretty much nothing justifies the need for them. But if the ending will be like TT (separation, SJ going to Germany, reunion), it was necessary to spend the money, although I’d hope for an a little more creative ending.)
Two major problems I still see: Prof Kang could sue them and Sun Jae is scheduled to get a reevaluation for his army service. Kang covered for him during the ballet school incident und could harm him here. Or does the scholarship help Sun Jae stay out of the army? What happens, if he loses that scholarship?
How could Hye Won keep Kang from suing her? Could she get him the job as Dean he so desires, if he is just patient enough? Through whom? The chairman after all, because he seems to change his mind every five minutes? Or is a charge for adultery not valid, because Kang acted in front of everybody like nothing happened AFTER the evidence for the affair was collected. Apparently suing because of adultery is only possible in Korea, if the spouse didn’t approve or pardon the act. Adultery is considered pardoned when an explicit or implicit act of forgiving is made. (Someone at Soompi quoted the law.) The Rat’s behavior at his house during the party very much looked like a pardon, don’t you think? And we’ve got the finished interview waiting, in which they act as the happily married couple. As a consequence it is of even more importance whether Hye Won and Sun Jae will make the mistake and meet outside of the house at the beginning of episode 15 or not.
Is she pregnant? She doesn’t think so, as she drinks alcohol. But when she set down in the fetal position, moving slowly like having been beaten all over, her right hand moved to cover her stomach (subconsciously?).
I adored the champagne bottle opening scene. It was slow, it was even painfully slow, it showed all the shenanigans and rituals the rich invented to celebrate their money. To me it was the moment Hye Won realized, that she really doesn’t need or want this world. Instant ramyun on the roof of their home is enough for her. She’s utterly bored with her husband and his highflying dreams of combining music and politics, during the whole scene she barely looks at him as if it pains her to see him instead of Sun Jae sitting before her. Then suddenly hubby starts demanding from her to go to prison and at this very moment the rest of the marriage they had crumbles and dies a silent death. Even at that moment she doesn’t really look at him. It’s over. Back at home Hye Won is totally shattered and drinks because she just realized, that she really would leave it all behind for Sun Jae.
Whatever will happen in the last two episodes, I feel like it’s time to get closure. I couldn’t suffer through two more weeks. I want my life back.
(Why did they give us almost three minutes re-watch of Sun Jae’s audition? Live shoot problems? The phone call you asked about. I don’t speak Korean, but to me it seemed like one phone call to the beauty parlor, interrupted by Ji Soo.)
Agree to all up there! I want my life back, too. 🙂
If I hold on to one thing to keep me hopeful, it is that this team did AWC. They know how to write a non sappy happy end.
(I skipped your Tokyo Tower paragraph because of spoilers)
I would like HW to have a child. Since she is so creative, it would be awesome to see her pass those talents and disciplines down to her own child. It seems for her to be pregnant, accidentally, is NOT in her style. I imagine part of her preparation the night she changed into SJ’s clothes and waited on his bed was to go get some condoms.
Don’t you think, that if they had used condoms the makers would have made us hear the foil rustle? 😉
I see your point, she could have prepared for sex, but at the same time she is so clumsy and undisciplined around Sun Jae she could really forget about contraception. We’ll see. Those two!
There is that thing called IUCD you know 🙂
Newbie, as usual you are as wonderful as jomo’s brain in your own insights and views (claps for both of you).
Since you’ve mentioned Tokyo Tower I’ve been searching of any source of this but can’t find any only just a brief background of it. I’m cravin’ to watch it’s movie or just read the novel will do, as I feel this could satisfy me with the whole process of being drawn to SLA 🙂
thanks for the brilliant recap.
the party from hell scenes are sooo painful to watch. T_T
i’m glad that HW has her kind secretary and best friends JiSoo and Prof Jo to watch her back. Otherwise everyone around her is dirtier than scavenger hyena. T_T
That party, arrrrghh.
I realized something only after doing the screencaps. While YAI is mesmerizing in how well he communicates his pain, Park Hyuk Kwon as the Rat we love to hate is AMAZING in that scene. The bellowing and falling and non-stop desperate attempts to appear in control, when he just isn’t. Just looking at the one shot when SJ and he are eye to eye outside the house. The idea that it is his rival/protege who had to scoop him off the ground, and then, who supports then carries him home. Wow. If he had been sober, he may have been more humiliated than the younger man.
Btw, they must have had a lot of NGs, too. I don’t know how they could keep a straight face being that close and intimate.
NG?
PHK deserves an acting award too for his acting here! Speaking of NGs, SLA team plans to make the DVD Director’s Cut version. It will contain NGs, BTS, and commentaries. They’re now making a survey about it. I hope enough people taking part in the survey so that chance to release the Director’s Cut will be high.
Furbabe – I think the interest inside SK will be strong enough, but I will vote yes!
NG I think literally means No Good. Out takes and retakes.
Even I had joined the survey for the DVD…really wanted to have 1 copy of this if this would be possible!
thanks for the recaps Jomo.
I say enough suffering for SJ. when I see him with his peers, I can’t help but be wistful that he had to miss out on this ‘normal’ kind of life. he had no say I falling for HW. he didn’t. he was literally struck. and now, regardless, he can’t abandon the complex woman with all
her complications.
let him either have the strength to
leave her if she can’t see that she needs to lose something to gain him.
I am excited to watch the ending and see what the writer and director has in store for us.
I know!
Imagine what his life would have been like if he didn’t meet the Seohan folks. Would he have wanted to end up married to DM? Would his mother have stayed alive? Hmmmmm….
they’ll wrap up everything in just 2 episodes!!… i’m not prepared for this. having nervous breakdown just thinking about this.
Thank you, jomo, for the recap. This is the best drama I have ever seen. It has everything: writing, acting and directing…and the wonderful music. I’ll leave all the armchair quarterbacking to others and continue to go along for the ride with, of course, your wonderful critiques. They make me feel that I am part of the action, not just a eavesdropper.
Wow. So many want HW to be pregnant but wouldn’t it be a jolt for SJ! Here is just 20 barely out of his teens and then has to face up to the fact of being a father! Nopes. I dont want that kind of shenanigan to interrupt this otherwise very well made drama. Although, if HW is indeed pregnant scenario plays out , she will pretty much take charge and but she will still have to (and she would want to ) inform SJ right. SJ already knows that she and Kang don’t sleep together, seeing separate beds et al so the pregnancy angle would become a distraction. Thats what I feel.
Absolutely. I dont think this drama needs to add any extra melodramatic issues. Somehow, it would be very jarring add on to this piece of work. There is already so much to chew on and angst about for the characters!
I totally agree. I don’t want the pregnancy trope. A child changes your life for good and only parnters, that have a tight relationship are able to weather the problems that come with a kid. A friend of mine once said to me many years ago: ‘A child will make you want to throw the dishes to your partner’s head.’ He was right.
But if for some legal reason a lovechild would become Hye Won’s ticket out of the marriage, we are going to see a pregnancy.
And in 13 and 14 there are so many wonderful little flourishes that speak so much about the characters – major and minor. When SJ seeks out the cellist student, he walks into the room, shuts the door with a normal ‘cllk’ But she is rehearsing still, hasnt heard the door being opened and doesnt know SJ is there. He has to then deliberately knock louder to make her stop playing and turn to him. Its just a few moments but it says so much about this girl. She genuinely wants to play and do well in the exam. Thats her priority. So before in 13 when she asks SJ if he would play with her sometime, she means it as just that. This is no step to flirting. I went back to the ep of his audition and there she is sitting behind , who else, but Kang, in the auditorium. I like this girl. And she has braces. Still a kid.
The part when HW walks up to her room when she excuses herself to go brush her teeth (I was surprised she said this, that the dialogue was such. You have a party and you excuse yourself stating you’ve brush?). SJ is observing her , from down below , This is when he has opened their book and has underlined paras for her to read. He has this look, now listen to what I’m saying to you, here, now.
The manner in which she finds the book is superbly filmed. Its not a mere seconds, but mins. She walks up, sighs , takes the wall. Then slowly she looks at something. Walks towards it with fear and a knowing. The camera is just on her face , we know what it is but her hesitancy and pain is so out there. She finally slowly sits and takes it and then we are allowed to see its the book. its an amazing , elegant piece of direction here. Liked this a lot.
I love this episode so much and I think YAI presents a very very brilliant once in a life time acting here. One thing that I want to believe is that Sun Jae is actually agree to follow her game. It is exhausted and a nightmare, but as Hye Won always emphasizes to the others including to her husband, please be patient. You will get what you want if you can be patient. I hope we can get what we want too if we wait. Two more episodes left after all. Thanks for the beautiful recap, Jomo!
I agree with you! Amongst the Kdramas I’ve watched which made me laugh, giggle and cry along..SLA is the most exceptional so far ‘coz this has consumed me with different emotions. Watching it makes me feel like being part of the whole drama. Truly the PD and the Writer together with the whole team has made a one of a kind masterpiece which is SLA, where I look forward to have this drama garner awards and special recognition in the SK’s Entertainment industry (as how A Wife’s Credentials had).
Furbabe, as for the “patience” you’ve mentioned..indeed this is also what we need as viewers as we await the last 2 episodes to conclude the whole series (yet I am hopeful this would really wrap up to 20 episodes which I’ve assumed since it started).
“Patience is a virtue.” I hope this would grant way for HW to be elevated from the ill scheme of the Seohan’s claws and be freed from their dirty surrounding and of course to end with Seon Jae being together.
btw, did anyone else know that the actor who plays hW’a husband had bit parts in two of YAI’s movies? antique bakery as a gay boyfriend of kim jae won and then I think in boys of tomorrow or
tough as iron. can’t remember which now!
they are fated actors
Married in a previous life? LOL.
He is a busy actor, or maybe it just seems that way because I have watched most of his dramas. I specifically remember him being in My Princess and Dream High when they were airing at the same time. He was Kim Tae Hee’s very sad daddy in MP then Suzy’s daddy in DH.
Ahh, i havent watched either and prior to this, have not seen any of his works. It was during the sewol tragedy that i caught a number of kmovies and thought “hey! Hey!”
Park Hyuk Kwon played with YAI in Boys of Tomorrow (2007). I don’t know about the other movies they’ve worked together. But yeah it’s a fate! It’s a fate too that YAI and KHA worked in Elegant Lies before working in SLA together. Because of that she has YAI number, and could call him for SLA casting 😀
thanks for that mariana. i couldnt remember if it was BOT or Tough as Iron. coz that week i checked out all three movies although i failed to complete antique bakery. didnt like it.
thanks jomo for all the recaps. very precise and detailed. by just reading the recaps itself is pretty good enough to feel the pain and longings and confusion. SLA touches the deep core of our hearts!!!
Thank you, thank you! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for doing such a great job with the recaps! I had to stop watching after episode 12 because my heart couldn’t take it anymore. I am in my own real-life drama so it is wearing me out, but I can’t stop my addiction to it. I loved what you said in your last paragraph comments: everyone is watching each part of this drama and dissecting it. You are so right. I am so glad for YAI as I loved him since watching Antique and knew something was special about him. I think he will have many opportunities to do well from now on. What scares me is that he might not return to dramas. He may end up taking this success and sticking with movies. Thank goodness for interest in anything Korean right now, as they will be subtitled!
Thanks Jomo! As expected your writings are beyond satisfying to read and re-read. I also acknowledge all the rest who posted their comments here I enjoyed all of it too!
Looking back to the previous episodes, I think it was last viewed after HW and SJ’s “feels-like-honeymoon-in-the-countryside” scene that both interacted in the chat room, where SJ confided how hard it was for him to send away HW back to her husband’s side with the feeling considering HW as his bride.
Since there two more episodes left for SLA to end, do you guys think the fact that SJ’s chat mate whom he called “Hyung” will be disclosed before the story ends? If it will be, what would SJ feel and how would he react knowing it was HW behind it all along?
Oh I myself couldn’t comprehend either of what would be the case after. But all I really want or should I say all of us really want here is to have a very good, satisfying and heartwarming ending (fingers crossed!)
Good question! I think it will remain one of the many “secrets” in this Secret Love Affair. I think we are going to be left with more questions than answers, but in a good way. I think we will be satisfied though, and not disappointed. I think that some things are better left unsaid.
The pro to her being Hyung is she was always completely honest with him, moreso than in person. Nothing she said was a lie.
It would be embarrassng for him to know he revealed himself to Hyung before revealing himself to her, but everything he has told Hyung, he told her. Even the part about the feet!
i dont have a problem with hyung remaining a secret or not. if HW were to reveal it now, i imagine SJ would be amused by it. as jomo pointed out, as hyung, HW was completely honest in revealing her real self.
hyung served to bring them together. he was an incredible coincidence in a series of incredible coincidences that culminated in their meeting in HW’s house for the first time and resulted in the events that followed. I mean, what were the odds that SJ was picked up in the video selection and then turned out to be the delivery boy who happened to view HW from behind the curtain and got struck by her aura of beauty, class and love for music.
i doubt if SJ would be mad if and when he finds out coz he would see that hyung brought them together.
Am very glad SLA is getting done this week. Its eating too much of my time. Its over and done with and I get back to my life. And I dont want another series from this director , writer for atleast a year. I cant get caught up in its whirlpool again. Mon Tues , Yes. Wed To Sun – steps to agonising, dissecting, what next. Too much to bear :(.
And I think a time jump is a lot likely in these episodes. A year or 2 or whatever time HW has to use to recuperate from her wrong doings. I dont think this is going to be a sad ending . It wouldn’t justify and would be more of the director shying away from depicting the true repercussions of such a relationship. The series so far has been pretty forward so I think a good, definitive closure is on the anvil.
Yep. That was me until episode 12. I then decided it was best for my sanity and health( as I was getting sleep deprived) that it would be best to just read recaps and visit sites. After my crazy schedule clears up, I will revisit the drama… with a good sized bottle of wine! I am gonna lock myself in my room, and not come out until it is over.
First up not a K-drama fan at all. But a friend said I should watch this and I am glad I did! And then I stumbled on this site. Great to read the reviews and comments.
There seem to be a lot of YAI fans here and he is very very good! But the leading lady is killing it for me. Its such a great, complex part and she’s done it more than full justice. Normally I am not on board with a controlled person so deeply entrenched in the murky doings of a organisation having a change of heart on meeting a young, passionate idealist (usually the genders are reversed but the trope is the same). It’s like how is it possible at all to go back to that old self who once played piano like Sun-jae – though the first scene with that orgasmic piano scene suggests it is possible. I also love the scenes with Hye-won’s friends – they look so natural and the marriage of Jo In-seo acts as an interesting counterpart based on a natural liking rather than career advancement. And the little details like the subordinates having their own chats going. And just so much else that demands a re-watch. As for the ending perhaps they will go with the original Japanese movie.
Some of the later episodes do have a bit of a pacing issue. And sometimes it is a bit black and white. The baddies have no redeemable features and Sun-jae is altogether too good. And effective as the scene was, I slightly cringed when Billy Joel came on:) But on the whole it’s a great drama, certainly different from other K-dramas I have been recommended and then abandoned.
I am a YAI fan, but I think that the best actor in the entire show is actually Park Hyeok-Kwok who plays the loser husband/professor. He has a very limited screen time, but he has a knack of cultivating his character with downright realism. Frankly, his performance exceeds the rest of the cast by bounds and leaps. (YAI, sorry. I know that you are great but I think your best is yet to come. 😀 I personally prefer KHA’s acting in Wife’s Credentials much more than in here).
Prof. Kang is not at all a unlikeable and in fact disgusting character. But just look around us. There are tons of guys like him. What is really amazing about him is that he has slowly built layers into his character. At first, he’s harmless and even hilarious. And later, we get to see his long-buried frustration and displace his anger onto others. I really hope that he gets some credit for his understated and detailed performance. The girl who plays DM is also a new discovery for me.
fandomscape, I agree he was very good. Unlike some of the other baddies who became one-note, he was able to convey the weakness and opportunism of his character. And his is a pivotal role in understanding what develops between LSJ and OHW. Though it was a little unclear to me why she chose him in the first place.
I haven’t seen A Wife’s Credentials so I can’t compare but now I feel I must. The reason I liked KHA the most is that it is a role few actresses are afforded in their 40s. It’s a role you don’t see at all in fact, if at all we only see women as successful in their careers but nothing of what lies behind it. KHA does it full justice in showing us the extent of OHW’s compromises, the fact that she may even enjoy wielding power and yet her capability to be vulnerable and create a kind of beauty with LSJ. Also she makes believable the fact that she is the woman for LSJ which given the bias against older women is refreshing. Of course it wouldn’t work unless it was juxtaposed with what LSJ is so yes I liked YAI a lot too. It’s kind of hard to choose who is the best really.
All in all the ensemble cast was great, right down to OHW and Prof Kang’s assistants and their little interactions. Its just so beautifully made right till the end, they deserve every award around.
Omonaaaa….episode 15 preview is out just now! I’m going crazy! I hope it’s not a dream! (I will avoid posting spoiler here, just go to JTBC drama youtube channel)
DON’T TELL ME!! I hate knowing what’s going to happen.
Oh NO! I have to avoid the interwebs until it’s on…
Omo! I saw it! I saw it! I have to zip my mouth Jomo! :X
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Heartbreaking episode ever. These people, all of them, the casts, director, the writer, are awesomesauce. After SLA I don’t think I can watch another drama for some times.
these last two episodes really gutted me. and i’m so glad that it’ll be over this week. as much as it has been awesome, and i admit i want more of YAI and KHA and the director and everyone on the crew, i want SJ and HW to have their ending, no matter what it will be.
and thank you so so much for your recap jomo. i totally agree that the music director is killing me. thank you for your interpretation too. and everyone above who has added so much insight to this wonderful experience.
Amazing writing and recaps. Thanks so much!
this ep is sad for the two lead. they better get a good ending after all the pain they both wnt throught.
Thanks, Jomo!!!
Wonderful recap and comments. Just a bit about the Billy Joel song. When it came out I remember what struck me was precisely the waltzy, almost virtuoso piano being belted out. I never really listen to lyrics unless they are super striking. This time I listened to the lyrics and I could understand HW’s tears and her nostalgia.
And how very scary and creepy the man stalking their “honeymoon” trip. I’m waiting for his “evidence” to be made more public than just to the husband.
…Annndd we continue with the couple with cuckold cocktail party from hell. Both YAI and KHA do a fantastic job with their characters’ emotions in this episode. Wow. Hye Won and Seon Jae are exquisitely aware of each other while they struggle to pretend disinterest, it’s painful to watch. Yoo Ah In’s tremendous performance of Twinkle Twinkle; SJ communicates with awesome effect by turning this typically cheerful childhood tune into a dark explosion of anger and grief. The contrast made more evident after the opposite rendition by MW. Seon Jae finds another way to share his thoughts with HW using the book on her nightstand. SJ is an intelligent man.
In the garage. Again. This dark space between indoors and out. He can’t kiss a pitiful woman. He is the strong one here, pulls himself up straight and fills his voice and facial expression with a confidence he doesn’t feel. When he then collapses on the sidewalk in wracking sobs I cry with him. I was grateful for the translated script here too (Piano Conversations site) as it was explained that Seon Jae’s anguish was because of Hye Won’s suffering, not his own.
Like many conversations in this drama, cello student’s question has a double meaning. She is leaving college: “isn’t it better to avoid it when you can’t win?” Sean Jae’s response, “I’m not sure about that”. Gave me hope because SJ believes that he and HW can win. With his friends, Seon Jae refuses to read the list of accusations about HW that was given to DM. He knows the Seo group is capable of bending facts to suit themselves. What is true and what are lies? I do wish they had given us a better idea of what Seon Jae is thinking. They show him pausing from a walking, or stopping himself from saying something, to think, about…what?
Was a director’s cut DVD ever made for SLA? I would really enjoy seeing the NGs and BTS clips. Guessing not as I can’t find one anywhere.